Dark Moon, High Tide
by Uniasus
Summary: There's a spirit out there whose mere presences unnerves the others, so they stay away. Or try to. (Aka an AU where Jack is creepy)
1. Alone in the World

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - Alone in the World**

* * *

It had been odd, but more so sudden, when Nicolas could no longer communicate with Manny. They had never been vodka buddies, nor exceptionally close, but the Moon had a habit of appearing in his skylight from time to time and Nicolas would greet the child guardian and check that all was well.

But here was the Moon, framed perfectly for a decent lengthy conversation and there was no voice saying hello. Even when Nicolas had stepped into moonlight, waved his hands and jumped, there had been no response.

He had the fearful thought that the Moon Clipper was empty. There was no Manny there to talk to.

It was a ridiculous thought. Why wouldn't Manny be on the space ship? He was unable to visit Earth, or leave the Moon at all really. And no one had the capability to go there to harm him. Even if Pitch Black desperately wanted to sink his fangs into Manny, he lacked a ship that could take him to the Moon. He was stuck on Earth.

Manny was just sleeping, Nicolas supposed. It had to happen sometime. The fact that this was the first time Manny was sleeping as the Moon appeared in his skylight was special only because it was the first time. Nothing sinister was, could, be going on. Manny was safe, the children were safe, the world was safe.

"Sweet dreams," Nicolas sent to the sky. He'd say hi next time he noticed the Moon overhead.

* * *

When he first heard his name, two things stuck him as odd. One was that 'Jack Frost' felt like an alias. The other was that the voice who said it was familiar, much more so than his own laugh.

* * *

There is something odd about the winter spirit below, Sanderson thought. Odd about the way he was familiar. Spirits were unique creatures, perhaps more so than the humans of Earth, and certainly were more varied than stars.

The only reason a spirit should feel familiar was if Sanderson had met him before and forgotten. But he could tell, by the sharp taste of magic in the air and the limited range the teen kept himself to, that his white haired spirit was new. Sanderson had never met him.

That strange familiarity had him keep an eye on the spirit for a few decades, learning his name was Jack Frost, but Sanderson never approached him. Something about that white skin and those blue eyes kept him back from introducing himself, a feeling that just made the Guardian more wary.

Until it hit him that Jack wasn't familiar because he reminded Sanderson of a spirit he couldn't remember, but because the winter spirit reminded him of an entire species he had never thought to see again.

Star herders.

White hair, lithe body, and a fondness for moonlight, Jack Frost tickled Sanderson's mind because he was a reminder of better days. Better days and then their end.

Mental itch scratched, Sanderson found he no longer could stand to look at the teen who frolicked in the snow without shoes. It was mournful. It was painful.

He flew away and did his best to ignore the presence of Jack Frost.

* * *

There were times, looking in windows before the frost crept in or catching his reflection in bright, clear ice, that his own image made him pause and stare. There was something off about it.

Not his hair, or his eyes. Though he had never seen another with his coloring they still felt right to him. No, it was his nose that gave him pause. Or sometimes even the shape of his head or the smoothness of his forehead.

He laughed it off, playing games with himself.

* * *

Tooth wasn't supposed to stop, not for anything, when the aurora glowed and called them all together.

And yet, that's exactly what she did.

There was a boy in the air.

He was glowing, which was very unusual.

He was staring at the aurora, poised in a position to fly off somewhere quickly, but it was obvious he didn't know where. He was facing north, facing the Pole, as if he knew what the aurora meant and felt as if he should join the Guardians. But that was silly. No one knew what it mean aside from the four of them. No one else felt the pull of the Oath when they saw the lights in sky.

There was a shift in the wind and suddenly the boy no longer glowed.

Tooth looked up into the sky, a cloud had just passed over the Moon. She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. The spirit had been glowing – with moonlight? No, that was silly. He was most likely an ice spirit, whose skin shown in any type of light. It had been a reflection, nothing more.

She took off like an arrow to the Pole, putting the boy out of her mind.

* * *

It didn't take him long to realize the eyes he felt on him came from the sky. More specifically, from the Moon. He didn't know why the Moon took such a special interest in him, to the point that just by feeling the eyes between his shoulder blades he always knew where it was even during a new moon.

Someone, something, living on the Moon was constantly keeping an eye on him.

And so, he decided to try to talk to whoever they were. He knew there was something strange about him, there had to be for other spirits to avoid him, but if the Moon was watching then perhaps he would be willing to have a conversation.

But every word that slipped out of his mouth wasn't answered, and he always got the unsettling feeling that he was talking to himself in the mirror.

He couldn't bring himself to stop though. When he actually meet someone who would greet him, he didn't want his voice to be rusty from disuse.

* * *

Aster had just gotten back to the Warren when he felt a shift in the weather. Ears jerking up with alarm, he raced back to the surface. It was Easter, he had to check on the kids. He used his connection with the Earth to feel for the center of the disturbance and had his tunnels open up there.

It was, without a doubt, a blizzard.

The wind howled, ice stung at his cheeks, and the temperature was making his joints stiff. He couldn't see the sun, he couldn't see three feet in front of him so it really wasn't that surprising when he bumped into a storefront. There was an analog clock on display and Aster felt relief flood him when he realized it was two in the afternoon. The blizzard had started after the egg hunts. The children were safe.

Didn't mean the storm hadn't effected his holiday. No power, no Easter dinner, no chance to go out and play, and certainly families had to cancel their travel plans. Snarling, Aster continued walking to where he felt the blizzard's center to be. It was too sudden, too out of season, for it to be a natural storm. Someone was causing it.

Someone who made Aster stop in his tracks.

There was something young about the spirit, the rawness to his power and the way he stood in the middle of the town's street. And yet...something else screamed of immense age and of loneliness equal to his own.

The spirit turned to look at him, bright blue eyes and moon white hair. Aster again got that strange sense of young and old for the face was young and the expression on it ancient. He froze at the sensation until the spirit blinked at him.

"Hey! Stop this blizzard right now!"

The spirit flew in close, grin on his face. "First, tell me your name." His voice was horse, dry, and sounded like it had traveled a great distance from his mouth to Aster's ears even though they were less than a foot apart. It made his fur stand up on edge.

"Bunny. Aster. E. Aster Bunnymund. The Easter Bunny. Guardian of Hope and Light." Why did he feel the need to list off all of that? As if this punk kid was someone he wanted to impress?

"I'm Jack Frost."

The blizzard died, the sky and sun suddenly bright overhead with the only evidence of the storm a few seconds ago was the feet of snow and powerless devices.

"Today is Easter. No one messes with Easter." He pulled out his boomerang and ran a paw along it.

"Okay." And suddenly Jack was gone.

Aster shivered. Sandy had mentioned once coming across a spirit who had unnerved him. Aster was pretty sure it had been Jack Frost. Aster hoped he never came across him again.

* * *

There was something stirring. He didn't know what, but he knew something was. The shadows were darker and sometimes he saw trails of obsidian sand in the sky, visible only when the Moon and stars shined on them and he could catch the other colors of funereal purple and three day bruise blue.

When the sand condensed, when there were horses prancing around, something in his chest commanded him to stop it. So he did, spreading out his magic and calling in the clouds, flash freezing the horses and burying them under the pressure of snow. He had known it was Easter - holidays, Guardians, were things he knew instinctively - but that just made it more important to stop the horses now. Make the darkness start from scratch.

And well, if he finally got a spirit to talk to him, that was an extra bonus.

The name 'Jack Frost' still sounded false.

* * *

 **A/N: Transferring this over from Ao3, where it is complete. For those who follow me both here and there, please don't spoil it for the rest of my readers.**

 **For the crowd, did you notice the FORESHADOWING GALORE? I swear, if someone doesn't guess what's up with Jack in this AU before Pitch, my writing is awful. Or my mind just too advanced for mere mortal fanfic readers to understand. Guess away in the reviews, I loving hearing what you come up with.**


	2. Busy Workshop

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 2 - Busy Workshop**

* * *

The command was in his chest again and it felt almost like he was ordering himself around. This time, when the aurora was in the sky, he followed it. He knew it was important, always had, but this time the urge to follow it was the strongest it had ever been. He couldn't resist, even if he had wanted to.

* * *

He had been both overjoyed and worried when Manny communicated with them again. It was a sign that his friend and leader was alright; the three hundred years of silence had been disturbing. But then Manny hadn't used his voice, he used charades. He hadn't done that since he developed a good grasp of Earth's languages.

Nicolas had a feeling there was something off about the Man in Moon.

But there was bigger things to worry about. Pitch Black was loose and his power was serious enough that Manny thought they needed help.

In the moonlight, the Guardian crystal rose and above it was projected an image. The face was hidden and the clothes unfamiliar, he had never seen the spirit, but even the image gave off a sense of discord that recalled stories he had heard from other spirits. Only one had learned his name, only one had had a proper conversation with him, but the winter spirit had be the subject of many talks.

"Jack Frost."

The image flickered, disturbed as something landed on top of the crystal. It was a teenage boy, with bare toes and a staff in his hand. Unlike the projection, the figure before them wasn't hiding his face.

"I am Jack Frost. I was called and so I came." It was a voice of distance and age and while Nicolas knew age and appearance rarely matched in spirit, the difference in sound and looks sent a shiver down his spine. The others around him shivered in the same manner.

The winter spirit didn't seem to notice. The crystal retreated and Jack Frost jumped of it just before the floor closed over it, feet planted firmly on the carved G on a full moon that symbolized the Guardians.

And then, his voice changed. Still old and far away, but not as obvious. And perhaps that was even stranger, for while spirits changed as their stories none did so as quickly as that. "Nice to finally meet you. We're going to have great fun."

* * *

There was something about this room, these people, that made him feel like he belonged. He _knew_ them all, though he had only ever had a conversation with Bunny. Aster. E. Aster Bunnymund. The Easter Bunny. Guardian of Hope and Light. It was too long a name. Bunny then.

Still, he knew their proper names, their titles, and their responsibilities, despite no interactions.

* * *

Now that Jack Frost was standing before him, Sanderson got a good look at the other spirit. From afar, all those years ago, he had looked like a star herder and that had made his sand shift uncomfortably.

They were gone.

All dead, but for one who was traveling the stars. But, well, it was quite possible that Nightlight had too died. It had been centuries after all. And Pitch Black obviously wasn't as weak as they thought him to be.

But now, looking at Jack Frost, Sanderson could say that while the winter spirit had looked liked a star herder from afar he wasn't. Oh, there was still something of star in him. No one else gave off that type of radiation in the x-ray or gamma spectrum.

No, up close it was the spirit's resemblance to specific people that unnerved him. Nightlight in particular and his radiation hinted at someone else but no more. He supposed it was just a strange coincidence, that a human had been born with features of another species, but it still caused an uneasiness in his core.

Jack Frost reminded Sanderson of ghosts.

* * *

He smiled at them all and Tooth felt her heart flutter. Those teeth, those amazing teeth! She buzzed forward.

"Do that again!"

"What?"

"Smile!"

He did and Tooth reached out a finger to touch an incisor. It was a hesitant touch, because despite being a Queen in multiple capacities she just knew that Jack Frost had more authority than her.

It was a strange feeling, that if Jack commanded her she would listen and she would gladly step between him and danger. It confused her because there was nothing about him that seemed particularly powerful or regal. He was just odd.

"You can get a better look if you want." Jack opened his mouth, voice friendly and open. Tooth couldn't resist, she stuck her fingers in his mouth and the few mini fairies that came with her huddled around his mouth to look too and swoon.

She only pulled back when Jack chuckled and she was worried he might accidentally bite down on her fingers. He winked at her. "We can play dentist later."

Tooth swayed in acknowledgment.

"But first, what type of fun are we getting into? Why was I called?"

She shook herself out of her teeth staring stupor. Called? The only thing that was capable of casting out any type of call was the aurora and that was linked only to the Oath. She was reminded of the figure she had seen many years ago, floating in the sky and looking as if he was considering following it. Tooth realized it had been Jack.

He had been connected, even faintly, to the aurora, to the Moon, and to the Guardians for awhile. Why had it taken Manny so long to select him?

She wondered if it wasn't just Earth bound spirits that found him disquieting, but Manny too. She wasn't sure he'd make a good Guardian in that case.

* * *

He had imagined this, conversations and touch with the four in his room. He had imagined the air saturated with happiness though, not wariness. It made him sad.

* * *

Called.

Aster ignored the word. Jack didn't mean it the same way the Guardians did, not really. His timing was a fluke, he had already been in the area and came to spy on their meeting because what else would a spirit like Jack Frost do? He had to be planning on another Easter blizzard.

"You weren't called." Aster said, stepping forward and throwing his chest out. "I don't care even if the Man in the Moon says so, you're not needed and you're not wanted here."

"Bunny!" North chastised

"Wrong," Jack answered, turning to speak to him with his too far and too old voice. Jack Frost was three hundred years old, if the stories were right. Why did he sound three millennium? He was not normal.

"I am here because there is trouble." He sounded certain. Absolute. And yet his face said he had not expected to speak those words himself.

Aster had the thought that maybe the spirit in front of him was a merger. He had never come across them before, just heard of them. Two stories, merging and blending, and as a result two spirits did too. That had to be the case here, Jack Frost was merging with a much old spirit who Aster didn't know.

Aster wanted to stay far away until the merging was complete.

* * *

He was here. He was supposed to be here. Nothing would change that. He had always known when he had to be somewhere, always aware of the tides of the world despite never having a view wider than one from an airplane.

The Moon had been watching him for centuries, he had not been called here idly, and for him to be needed here it had to do with children.

He had saved them before. He would do it again.

* * *

"Is the black sand back?"

All the Guardians turned to look at Sanderson, who shrugged. He had no idea what Jack Frost was talking about. That worried him. Sanderson made rounds every night. Him not knowing something was rare.

- _What is the black sand?-_ he said in radiation while forming a question mark in the air above his head. The radiation was quicker, light was so fast, and to his surprise Jack Frost had started answering before the sand above his head had gathered.

 _He could understand light_.

The idea of ghosts was stronger than ever. Ghost people, ghost civilization, a ghost time.

"It's just that, black sand. I've seen it in the sky, but only when it shines in the moon and starlight. I destroyed it before, when I meet you," Jack turned to Bunny at that statement and then once again faced Sanderson, "but lately I've been seeing it again glinting near the windows of kids."

- _Black sand?-_ Jack took it as the thought said out loud it was and simply shrugged.

"Pitch Black," North rumbled, turning everyone's attention on him. Sanderson nodded. They already knew it was him, but now they had some idea of what he was using as a weapon. Black sand indeed...Sanderson separated a handful from his own body to swirl over his palm.

* * *

Tooth didn't like the frown on Sandy's face. She was sure her's mirrored it. Things, dark things, near children's windows and her fairies hadn't noticed? Pitch was being cautious, different from his flashy, more aggressive attacks in the past.

There was a flash of panic in the back of her mind, the wards around her palace shrieking with the sound of a macaw. Something was attacking her home!

"My fairies!" she shouted, taking off through the window without a backward glance at the Guardians.

"The Tooth Palace!" Jack Frost had shouted at the same time, voice commanding. "Let's go!" If she hadn't already left the Pole, she would have moved at those words. As it was, Jack shot into the air after her.

She was fast, she could make it to India before North even when he used his portals. Jack kept pace with her, smiling into the wind.

No one had paced her before.

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah...so all the stuff on stars actually being an alien race that I've been exploring in my Fearlings universe? Kinda transferred over. It's a full on head canon now, not just an AU to play with.**


	3. Nightmares Attack

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 3 – Nightmares Attack**

* * *

When the portal opened, Nicolas found his sleigh in the midst of a fleeing flock of...something. It was only when one slowed down and reared away to avoid hitting a reindeer did he realize what they were – horses.

"They're taking the tooth fairies!" Bunny shouted and Nicolas heard the whizzing of his boomerang. A horse exploded, the fairies that had been stuck in its stomach scattering, and Nicolas felt the pressure of lots of little things hitting his coat. Rain, he would have guessed in another situation, but as he looked at his hands holding the reins he saw black sand on them instead.

Jack Frost, with his power of seeing things the Guardians could not, had been correct.

* * *

The sand confused him and Sanderson spent a moment staring at it. If he didn't know better, he would say it was _his_ sand. It certainly came from a comet, radiation doesn't lie, but the spectroscopy on the visual scale and ultraviolet was strange. Dark. He'd say sick, but that was silly. Star didn't get sick. Their bodies weren't solid enough aside from their cores and anything malicious would burn up before getting there.

A sudden lurch of the sleigh reminded Sanderson this was no time for thought, it was a time for battle. He flew out of the sleigh and slashed a whip through a horse. It disappeared, freeing the fairies in it's stomach, but they were quickly swallowed up by another horse galloping out of the Tooth Palace.

Sanderson flew after it, slashing at anything that got in his way. The horse dived straight down, Sanderson on it's tail, and then turned so fast that it was rising past him before he could change direction. It was heading towards North's sleigh, it was going to crash into it, it was...gone. Disappeared into the shadow of the sleigh's underside and taking the twenty fairies in it's stomach with it.

North was directing the sleigh towards the center of the Palace and Sanderson raced ahead. He destroyed horses as he went, leaving Bunnymund and North behind him to make sure the fairies he freed stayed free.

The Palace itself was chaos. The number of horses outside was nothing compared to those inside, because here they weren't simply taking the fairies. They were rooting out and swallowing the teeth boxes. He caught sight of Toothiana, a whirlwind of blue and green, her wings acting as swords as she whirled through the horses. Fairies fought along side her, dive bombing horses steeling the teeth. Released teeth capsules chimed as they fell down to the ground, squeaks of all volumes filled the air, and above it all was the Queen's battle cry.

Sanderson quickly set to work fighting near Toothiana. Once in awhile he would catch a bright blue sliver light, Jack Frost fighting farther below in the Palace.

It wasn't enough. By the time the sleigh skidded to a landing the horses were gone and Toothiana was skittering in the air looking for survivors. Jack flew up to them, and to everyone's surprise a dozen or so fairies flew out from his hoodie's pouch. He had managed to do something no Guardian had.

Sanderson couldn't help but think of the people Jack Frost reminded him of who also had the talent for doing what no one else could.

* * *

Tooth was over joyed to see some of her fairies were all right. The clustered around her, chirping about how scared they were and how amazing Jack Frost was, with his ice that sparkled just like his teeth.

She looked over to see Jack standing on a lower platform, nonchalantly looking around and seeming to match what he saw with some type of internal plan in his mind if his nodding and head tilting was anything to go by. Tooth was already on her knees and she had the strange feeling again of wanting to submit to Jack. If he looked her way, she was positive she would prostrate herself on the gold leaf.

He had to be someone special. The Guardians were powerful. Jack...more so.

Tooth's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of none other than Pitch Black. He was taunting them, showing off his new talent of corrupting Sandy's dream sand and outlining his goals. The goals hadn't been that surprising, but the nightmares had. Something Jack had said earlier floated to her mind. He had seen the black sand before, fought it roughly fifty years prior. Just how long had Pitch been planning this? The thought made her uneasy.

But apparently, not as uneasy as Jack Frost made Pitch Black. The Boogieman slid out of the shadows near the frost sprite and then very obviously froze when Jack turned to look at him. Something about the spirit made _Pitch Black_ hesitate, the Boogieman and Nightmare King who very obviously had entered the homes of two Guardians who weren't pushovers.

Tooth felt a strong desire to fly at Pitch again, but all Pitch did was circle Jack. Staring the entire time. Jack turned with him, their eyes always locked. Pitch's face was wary, Jack's blank.

"And who are you?" Pitch asked.

Jack remained silent, something Tooth found strange because he hadn't been prone to silences before.

"I said, who are you? Have you joined the Guardians?"

Bunny scoffed at the question and Tooth quickly found Pitch growing out of the Bunny's shadows. They all scattered to different platforms. Tooth found herself hovering between Pitch and Jack. She knew, just knew, that Jack could take care of himself. But she couldn't overcome the instinct of Jack Frost needing protection.

She blamed it on his young appearance. Considering North was by her side, he felt similar.

* * *

Aster leaped away as Pitch rose behind him. In a flash there was a boomerang hurtling towards Pitch's head that the Nightmare King avoided.

"I take it the new spirit is not a Guardian, judging by your face." Pitch said, "So who is he?"

"Jack Frost." Aster said. Talk of the boy had traveled, of how odd and strange and disturbing his presence was. He was betting that Pitch had heard of him in some way and the rumors surrounding the boy would make Pitch nervous. The old general however gave no indication that he knew the name. Apparently he had been living under several rocks these past three hundred years.

Pitch took one look at Jack, who was still watching Pitch, and then summoned a nightmare and mounted it. Sensing weakness, Aster took off after him, the other Guardians at his back. But it was Jack, strange, duel toned Jack who rushed by them all to gain on Pitch's lead.

Aster was rather affronted by the speed, he was supposed to be the fastest! Eager to prove that, he streamlined his body even more just in time to watch the nightmare with Pitch on it's back disappear into the shadow of a rock crack. He was worried Jack was going to crash into the cliff face, but the lad apparently had the talent to stop on a dime and give you nine cents change.

Anyone else, Aster would have been jealous of that speed and agility. But all he felt instead was a desire to prove himself. Not through competition, because it was obvious he would lose, but by doing something else. He shook his head as he landed on the mossy rock below. He did not understand this strange desire to impress Jack. Jack was not worth impressing.

Then again, he thought as he watched the spirit in question lightly land in the center of the pond, Jack himself was pretty impressive.

It didn't mean Aster was okay with having him around.

* * *

There was something familiar about the man, Pitch Black, who circled him, but he knew they had never met. Because Pitch reminded him of flashing armor and being small, neither of which he actually had memories off.

It was strange.

* * *

Any other spirit would be asking questions, Sanderson was sure, because anyone not a Guardian never understood all that it stood for and the intricacies of the position. Instead, Jack stood staring at the mural of Toothiana and the children, the frown on his face indicative of deep thinking instead of confusion.

Jack Frost _knew_ the Guardians. Maybe not personally, as people, but knew what they protected and how they were tied to it. Only one other person knew that, and he hadn't talked to them for three hundred years. How did Jack know?

Sanderson floated over to Jack. - _What are you thinking?-_

"That it wasn't the fairies they were after."

"What makes you think that?" Toothiana asked, coming to join them near the bottom of the mural.

Jack waved a hand towards the painting. "You're not the Guardian of Fairies, you're the Guardian of Memories. And your fairies aren't the only ones who help with your belief base." The few fairies hovering around them seemed to pout at the blow to their importance.

 _-How do you know this?-_ Sanderson asked and got a shrug in return.

"I just know things. Like I know the teeth were the real target here." He tossed a teeth capsule into the air so it flipped a few times before catching it as it dropped. The painting was of a young boy, brown hair and brown eyes. "Pitch Black wanted the memories, but I don't know why."

Sanderson was relieved to hear that. He didn't like the idea of an all knowing spirit. Or the idea that one was communicating with those beyond reach. It wasn't natural, even for spirits.

"What can be done with memories? Why are they important?" North asked from the shore and the three of them made their way over.

"I don't do much with them, just use them to remind children of happy times when they need it."

"So, we can say that Pitch took them to prevent you from doing that." Bunnymund hypothesized.

"Which means that he is planning on doing something where such memories would be required." Jack sounded like he was going through a list of what such plans could be.

 _-What are you thinking?_ \- Sanderson asked again and Jack shook his head.

"Lots of fear. He called those creatures nightmares, right? What better way to spread fear than that? He has no power over world affairs."

North and Toothiana started talking, rushing over each other with words and ideas. Sanderson felt a tug on his arm and followed Bunnymund to stand just out of ear shot.

"What's up with you and Frost? It almost seemed like he was answering your questions, but you didn't sign anything."

Sanderson formed an image of Jack and him with his sand, having an easy dialog shown by quick speech bubbles.

"I don't get it."

Sanderson filled the speech bubbles with text, using the old Verbal language of the stars.

Bunnymund's jaw literally dropped. "You mean to say he can speak _your_ language? Understand the slight differences in your radiation that mean words? Can understand light?"

He very obviously nodded, not surprised by Bunnymund's flabbergasted state. The only people who had ever been able to understand the light language of adult stars had been, well other adult stars, juvenile stars, and star herders. Of which Jack Frost was none of.

Another thing that had Sanderson thinking of ghosts.

He signed this to Bunnymund, who nodded. "He's an odd one, that's for sure. I thought he might be two merging spirits, an old winter one and a newer one, but if he can understand you...Sandy, is he actually a spirit?"

Sanderson frowned, not understanding.

"Is he actually a spirit? Or is he someone from the Golden Age? I get this feeling he's really old, has seen and lived through many things."

He shook his head no forcefully. Jack Frost was a new spirit, his first appearance had been only three hundred years ago while other survivors had been here for much, much longer. Besides, he had lots of magic. That was a spirit thing, and something that belonged only to those who had been spirits from the start. The Guardians, who had only been converted to spirithood had it in a limited supply. Sanderson could only telepathically move his sand and imbedded it with the natural power comets got thanks to their status as 'shooting stars' that people made a wish on. Bunnymund could only affect his tunnels, the strange plants in his Warren being gifts from Mother Nature. North's power was limited to making things fly, like his sleigh and reindeer. Tooth's wings were a natural part of her heritage, but the ability to create mini-fairies and the link she had with them was magic.

They all had magic in very specific terms. Jack, he could tell, did not. He could fly and manipulate water in multiple ways. He seemed to have a magical sense of knowing things.

Sanderson was trying his best to explain all this when North shouted his plan. "We will collect the teeth!"

"But the European division can keep my belief strong enough without help. We should focus on taking down Pitch! I want my fairies back."

"Do you need the capsules to activate memories?" Jack asked looking at the one in his hand.

"No, just the teeth."

"Then I agree with North. If kids need good memories soon, we should gather teeth to be able to provide them. I know you'll be able to sort them all properly when we get the fairies and capsules back."

"Yes," Toothiana sighed, "but it would take a long time."

"I'll help," Jack offered, smiling brightly and Sanderson snickered as a fairy fainted at the sight. Sanderson waved his hands in the air and then pointed to himself. He'd help too.

"It's settled!" North boomed. "Let's get started. It is night in America right now, no? And I insist, we all travel by sleigh."

Sanderson halfway expected Jack to protest, but he just shrugged. Apparently everyone did love the sleigh.


	4. Tooth Collection

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 4 – Tooth Collection**

* * *

"Where to, Toothy?" North asked, snow globe in hand. Tooth automatically looked to Jack for some cue as to where to go first. He however wasn't paying attention to her and was instead peering over the side of the sleigh to watch the landscape below. She shook off the feeling that she should be following Jack. North had asked her, the warrior Fairy Queen, and there was no reason she should defer to someone else.

"You were right about this being the time to collect teeth from the Americas. Let's start in Sao Paulo, the hours are shorter in the south right now, and then make our way north."

North nodded and then said the name of the Brazillian city before throwing the snow globe.

When they came out of the portal, Tooth had a brief bout of panic. It had been centuries since she had actually collected teeth, would she still be able to do it properly? One of her fairies flew up to her ear and chittered in it, telling her it was no different than directing her workers. Only, she was up close and could get some of the teeth too.

And to her pleasure, once she cleared her mind and felt all the teeth under pillows, it was as if she had never left. Her senses were sharp, her wings fast, and her energy level high. Tooth briefly looked at Jack, waiting for permission to start, but then fluffed up her feathers in a full body head shake. _She_ was the Tooth Fairy and the leader of this task.

"This way!" she called out, heading towards the city block beneath them. "Three on this block, five in the one to the west, one the block south and two more the one south from that, none to the east, but there's a handful to the north." The Guardians spread out, each taking a block with the help of a few fairies.

Tooth wasn't entirely surprised to see that while Sandy, North, and Bunny each had two fairies, and Tooth herself had three, the other five of the fourteen Jack had rescued went off with him.

* * *

Aster had wondered for a brief second if Jack was aware of the odd effect his voice had on other spirits, which is why he had only ever spoken to the Guardians as far as he was aware of. He hadn't said a word to Pitch, and no one was around in 1968 to have overheard Jack's voice when he and Aster had first talked. It was quite possible Jack Frost planned to help collect teeth in silence, not wanting to run the risk of being over heard. He hadn't talked at all in the sleigh.

But Jack let out a whoop as he took off to grab teeth, fairies happily trailing after him and Aster noted he was using his less creepy voice. The one that didn't sound quite so ancient and far away, that for a lack of a better explanation Aster was labeling as belong to the younger of the two merging spirits. The voice that didn't make odd statements about being called or knowing things. The conversational tone.

As he mulled over the mystery that was Jack Frost, the spirit flew along side him as he was jumping from house to house. Four of the five fairies trailing him were holding teeth.

"I bet my group can collect more teeth than you, as I'm faster." he said with a smile that had one of Aster's fairies faint.

Aster ground his teeth and lept into a bedroom. He came back with a tooth in his paw. Jack's fifth fairy now also had a tooth.

"You don't wanna enter a race a rabbit."

"Really?" Jack tilted his head and the older, father, wiser dissonant voice came forward in Jack's two-tone voice. "I happen to know, I'm faster." And Aster just knew that Jack was, and what ever contest they started would have the other spirit win.

That didn't mean Aster wasn't going to try. "I've got more experience."

Jack grinned at him and Aster grinned back as the lad was hit in the side of the face with a canvas bag.

"Sack, for teeth." North said, placing a tooth in his. "Largest sack at end of night, wins!"

"No crying when I win," Jack said and flew off. The fairies near Aster tugged on his fur, responding to mental directions given by Tooth and off he went. At the very least, Aster wanted to collect more teeth that North.

* * *

Nicolas considered it a good sign that Manny was bright that night. It made it easy to see the houses and the teeth under the pillows. It also meant the prince was doing what he could to keep Pitch off their back for now as they made their way collecting teeth around the world. Nicolas took pleasure in the skipping from hemisphere to hemisphere, country to country via sleigh and portal. It made things interesting.

What was also interesting was the black sand he noticed from time to time on the windowsills and pillows. He pointed it out to Sandy, who nodded. The comet had been seeing the sand too, and he wasn't ashamed to say his speed in their teeth collecting contest was slower than it could be because he was taking the time to absorb the black sand into his body, turning it into dream sand.

Or rather, back to dream sand as it had been that initially until Pitch corrupted it.

There was a flash of sliver light and Nicolas noticed a concentrated beam of light on a child's window. Quickly, he made his way towards it and Sandy joined him. There was no tooth under this child's pillow according to the tooth fairies with them. Instead, there was a prancing dark horse above the little boy's head. The boy squirmed and lightly whimpered, not enough to draw the attention of his parents.

One of Pitch Black's nightmares in action. Nicholas was surprised that this was the first one he'd seen that night. The sand on the windows was pretty common, and based on the Tooth Palace battle Pitch's army was large.

Sandy quickly phased through the window to make the dream pleasant and Nicolas took the time to look around the town they found themselves in. It was nothing special until the cloud that had passed across the moon finished it's journey. Nicolas could easily see that the moonbeam that had led him to his child wasn't the only. They were scattered around town and he cursed at the idea that so many children were currently having a nightmare.

A glint of light off purple feathers had Nicolas's attention drawn to the small flock of fairies he knew had been following Jack. But Jack wasn't with them. Alarmed, Nicolas quickly scanned the sky for him but then the winter spirit flew up from a ground floor window.

"Come on ladies, you need to learn how to keep up." With that, Jack flew into a moonbeam _and disappeared._

Nicolas jumped, and was only saved from splatting onto the sidewalk by Sandy's sand curling around his waist. Sandy signed 'be careful' and Nicolas quickly shook his head.

"I just see Jack Frost disappear in moonlight."

Sandy looked just as alarmed as he did and together they made their way over to the moonbeam Jack had flown into. Only the moonbeam was just as gone as Jack.

Quickly, Nicolas jumped to the roof in the house in question and saw a sight he had never expected to see. Jack Frost jumped into another moonbeam and then reappeared in a different one.

He was using Manny's concentrated light magic to teleport.

"Sandy, you are star. Can you do that?"

Sandy shook his head no and showed two stars above his head, each with a different ray pattern and then xed one out. "You are wrong type of star to use moon magic?"

A nod.

"Jack Frost is star?"

A firm no, and Sandy started into a long explanation that Nicolas tuned out. Just knowing Jack wasn't a star was enough.

"Who are you, Jack Frost? What are you?" he whispered to himself, jumping down a chimney to collect a tooth. It was a mystery that while bouncing around his head left his belly undisturbed. It meant Jack Frost wasn't evil, but Nicolas had already guessed that. It also meant there were more important matters to concentrate on.

He left a chocolate coin under a pillow and made his way onto the roof. He could see into another house, where Tooth was hovering over a child and Jack was leaning on his staff next to the bed talking to her. Nicolas might as well check up on his friend, see how she was doing.

* * *

Tooth was very aware of Jack's presence beside the bed and a rare onset of body shyness had her not look at him. She had a strong desire to be fully zipped and smoothed in his presence, not her current state of ruffled feathers from fast flying, fighting, and battling winds.

"I miss this, seeing the children."

"It's a bit different up close, isn't it?" Jack sounded like he knew the difference personally, but when would he have ever observed children from afar? The gossip about him always had Jack frolicking up close and personal with children. "You didn't have to stop, you know. You could have continued making collections yourself. Instead, you gave it up to create more helpers and direct them. Why?"

Tooth turned to look at him. He was fully standing, not crouched to stare at a drawing like before. Back straight in perfect posture, hand loosely around his staff, eyes open and inviting. He was genuinely interested and that mattered more than where he learned about her past activities from a time before he had been created.

"You know, I'm not really sure," she admitted. "The population exploded, humans and my belief stretched out over the globe. I had to create more fairies." Tooth held out a hand and two fairies came to settle on it, peeping softly in concern. She hadn't been this melancholy in ages. "It took a lot of time to create them, all the teeth capsules, and teach my fairies how to do the job. And by the time they I could have left the palace I guess...I guess I was just used to staying there and directing things. Why change a system that works?"

"It works really well," Jack said and Tooth absently noted the voice change. Still echoy and dry, but lighter pitch than the deeper tone he used to ask the question. He reached up to scratch the back of a fairy sitting on his shoulder. "You haven't been giving us direction since the first city, these girls have been locating the teeth on their own. I doubt they'd be able to tell where the teeth in Canada are from India, but if you had teams whose job was to focus on one country a night I bet they could do the work on their own. And then you could work with a different team each night, see the kids."

"Do you really think that would work?"

"Of course, you trained them well." Jack answered with the deeper tone taking center stage.

The fairies around them all bobbed their heads and squeaked yes. They thought it was possible too. Well then, just why had she kept herself locked up in the Palace for all these years?

Tooth smiled and nuzzled the two fairies in her palms. "I might just do that. After we defeat Pitch of course."

"Of course."

* * *

 **A/N: To all you patient people wondering just what's up with Jack...that's next chapter ^_~ Sorta kinda. At least, Pitch gets a say and he's more correct than the Guardians. A lot of you have some really close guesses.  
**


	5. Jack & Sandman

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 5 - Jack & Sandman**

* * *

"How you feeling, Toothy?" Nicolas asked as he stepped through the window.

She started, obviously whatever conversation she'd been having with Jack was not trivial, but then turned to look at him with a huge smile on her face.

"Believed in," she answered, and all the fairies in the room chittered happily in agreement. The few that had been following Nicolas flew over to those helping Jack and Tooth and he had a sneaking suspicion they were each bragging about how many teeth the teams had caught.

Sandy floated through the window. He didn't sign anything, but Jack smiled at the comet anyway and said. "Collecting's going great. I don't see Bunny, I must be much faster than him."

"Nah, mate." Bunny popped up in the corner of the boy's bedroom and as he and Jack got into a teasing fight Nicolas took the chance to analyze Jack. He had been close to the boy several times, but never actually noted the details of the spirit. The voice was weird, but he was willing to let that go. Teleporting through moonlight? Using moon magic? Well, star magic since Manny was technically a main sequence star living in a space ship that functioned as a moon. Figuring out Jack Frost wasn't a priority, but Nicolas wasn't going to let the opportunity to do so pass him by.

Except you couldn't tell there was anything odd about Jack Frost by his appearance. Fourteen, sixteen, Nicolas couldn't tell. White hair, not uncommon for a winter spirit. Normal clothes. No, it was the way he acted that was off. How he moved with light steps that Nicolas bet wouldn't leave footprints in fresh powder. How his voice sounded like no other spirit. How he knew things. Could understand Sandy.

"North?" Bunny's voice pulled him from his thoughts and Nicolas realized that as he had kept staring at Jack the conversation had moved on. Jack, based on the lifted eyebrow, had an idea of what had Nicolas so preoccupied but didn't saying.

"North," Bunny said again. "Care to show off your bag of chompers?"

"Haha, I win!" Nicolas said, even though judging by the bag at Jack's feet he might not have. It didn't stop him from throwing the sack over his shoulder on the the ground and yipping as he spun in a circle.

There was the click as a flashlight turned on.

* * *

Aster froze as the kid waved the light from one Guardian to another, listing names. Except, he didn't name Jack. He turned to look at the spirit, who seemed to be still comparing the size of teeth sacks. Jack didn't seem to have minded the kid not identifying him.

Leaving Tooth to talk the kid down from his celebrity presence induced hyperness, Aster leaned over to have a low talk with Jack. "You usually hang around this area of the world, how come the kid doesn't believe in you?"

Even if Jack was a merger of two spirits, he should have believers of either of his old selves. A merger meant there was stories to merge and what spirit had a story but no believers? Not even isolated, local ones?

Jack shrugged, non-pulsed.

"Are there some kids in the area who can see you?"

Jack turned his attention from the sacks of teeth to Aster for the first time. "Everyone on this planet can see me."

"This kid totally just over looked you, mate."

They both turned to look at said kid, whose growling greyhound looked like it thought North's belly was full of raw meat and not fat.

"He did not see 'Jack Frost'." Aster could just tell the name was a title and that Jack didn't necessarily identify himself with that name. Was Jack Frost the younger of the merging spirits, one without a belief base, and it was the older one children could see? Or had seen, as they were now using Jack's body. And why was that, why merge into a body with the lesser belief base if the other one was so widely known? Or was he a shape shifter, and Jack's current form held the name 'Jack Frost' while he true self, the one everyone could see had a different name?

In either case, to have a form, used nowadays or not, that was so well known should mean Aster knew it.

"The you kids do see...what does it look like and where do they see it?"

Before Jack could answer, but was that really the right name?, a bell went off. The greyhound launched itself at Aster's back. He rolled, attacking the dog with his own body weight and when Aster reached to pull the dog off his back he found himself with a face full of dream sand.

* * *

Jamie's lack of belief in 'Jack Frost' didn't bother him because he had never believed the name was his to begin with.

He stared at the furry form sleeping near his bare feet, curious as to why Bunny had been so focused on being seen. There was more important things than being believed in, there were more important things to protect.

* * *

Normally, Sanderson's aim wasn't so bad, but Abbey hadn't been the only one startled by the alarm going off when a fairy landed on it. His ball of dream sand had gone bouncing around the room, and now the only ones not asleep and dreaming were him, a grinning Jack Frost on Jamie's desk, and the five fairies warily peeking out from his hoodie pouch.

"Strange, I always thought they wouldn't dream about something so obvious."

- _What do you mean?-_

"Carrots? Teeth? Candy canes? Don't they find joy in things other than work?"

Sanderson blinked, thinking to all the times he had been witness to his friends' dreams. - _They do, but our work is a big part of our lives. Of course we enjoy it. Don't you?_ -

"I-" Jack cut himself off frowning and Sanderson found himself curious. The rumors and whispers about Jack Frost had said he just fooled around and so he had expected an answer along the lines of Jack not having work or play being his job. This was unexpected.

- _Do you have a job? Or a self appointed task?-_

"Yes. Maybe. I used to." Jack sounded unsure, something Sanderson didn't expect at all from the spirit who had showed previous bits of future knowledge.

Before he could press, there was a snort and Sanderson turned around to see a nightmare in the window. Not a small one giving out bad dreams like the one he had come across with North earlier. This one was the size of a real horse, just like the ones that had attacked the Tooth Palace.

The fairies in Jack's pouch screeched and ducked inside. Jack gave chase as the nightmare ran off.

"Come on Sandy! Follow the nightmare and we'll find Pitch."

 _Follow the fearlings and we'll find Pitchner._

Nightlight had said something similar once, when Pitch Black attacked the Moon Clipper. Nervous and scared, not a fighter at all, Sanderson hadn't followed the star herder. He had fled and fell to Earth. Nightlight had run straight into battle and no one had seen him since.

He shuddered as the feeling of ghosts settled on him again. He had said yes to becoming a Guardian to make up for leaving Nightlight to fight alone, for not protecting the royal family of main sequence stars. He wasn't going need to make up for anything this time.

Sanderson rushed out of the window, halfway expecting Jack to be out of sight but instead he was a few meters straight up and tracking the nightmare. Calling a pegasus from the sand, Sanderson flew up to meet Jack.

"There's more than one." Jack pointed to various black forms on the streets below. Sanderson only saw them because Jack identified them.

- _I'll take the ones on the left._ -

Jack nodded. "They seem to be heading towards the same place." He pointed towards a four way stop at the center of town near a gas station. "Take out what nightmares you can, and then join me in that alley." The wind rose up, ready to take Jack away.

- _Be careful. I don't want this to be the last time I see you.-_

Jack smiled back at him. "It won't be." He flew away and Sanderson took after his own nightmares.

There weren't a lot, and he was glad to discover that it was easier to take them out here in Burgess than at the Palace. They weren't expecting attacks or trying to disappear into shadows. Not having to worry about tooth fairies or teeth capsules, Sanderson could just touch a nightmare and transform the sand from black to gold.

The easiness unnerved him. It felt like the lure of a trap.

A flash of blue sliver light caught his eye, and it's only after a second flash did he know why it was familiar. That's what Jack's magic had looked liked yesterday. A third flash, from the same spot. Jack wasn't fighting isolated nightmares like Sanderson had been.

Sanderson raced forward.

Jack had made it to the alley first, but it hadn't been deserted like they had hoped. There were three frozen nightmares stuck to the ground, but another two were circling the winter spirit. Sanderson wrapped his whips around the hind legs of the closest one, pulling it to the ground even as it turned gold. Jack sent a jet of blue sliver magic at the last nightmare. It froze solid in a rear.

- _Are you okay?_ -

"Never better. This is like exercise."

Sanderson floated towards Jack, absently stopping at a frozen nightmare. He had only seen flashes of Jack using magic before, not the result. The ice keeping the dark sand still was thin and delicate like frost, but he could feel the coldness emanating from it. What struck him as odd was the slight spectroscopy reading he was getting from it. It reminded Sanderson of an O class star, blue white visual color with a hint of helium and a lot to see on the UV side of the scale.

"So you've noticed too, Sandman."

Sanderson and Jack jerked their heads upwards. Pitch was standing on the rooftop, looking down at them with his hands clasped behind his back.

- _Noticed what?_ \- Sanderson didn't bother with using his sand to talk. The man Pitch Black used to be had been a juvenile star. He could read light.

"Why, that there's something odd about Jack Frost here." He disappeared and then reemerged in the shadow of the nightmare Sanderson was standing next to. The comet threw himself backwards and glared.

Saying there was something odd about Jack was common. Everyone who had even been near him could tell that.

"Particularly his magic." Pitch stroked the nightmare, looking at Jack the entire time who stared back with a blank face. The ice slowly melted, juvenile stars had power over heat that Pitch retained even after absorbing the fearlings. The nightmare snorted as it regained the ability to move, quickly moving to put Pitch between it and Jack.

"I'm sure you've noticed, considering your origins, that Jack's magic reads like that of the stars."

Yes, he had noticed. What of it? It wasn't a matter Sanderson was going to talk to Pitch about.

Pitch started walking in a large circle around them, releasing each of the four frozen nightmares from the ice as he went. Jack and Sanderson were surrounded. Jack kept his calm gaze on Pitch, while Sanderson stuck with the nightmares. He hoped the other Guardians woke up soon and found them.

"See Jack, if that is your name," Pitch began as if he were a professor, "juvenile stars always show evidence of what type of star they will be when they start internal fusion. The color of their hair and eyes, for example. Our magic usually isn't as visible as yours, but in the spectrum where it does show up it matches the class of star we'll be when we join the main sequence."

What was Pitch getting at? Yes, Jack Frost read in some, a lot, of instances as a star, but that was impossible. He had magic, spiritual magic. He couldn't be anything other than a spirit.

- _Jack is not a star._ -

Pitch ignored him. "There is a type of star that is the rarest of us. Large, bright, fairly short lived for our species. They're type O." Pitch stopped directly in front of Jack, looking at him. "But you already know this."

- _How can he? Jack's not a star. Jack, tell him._ -

Why was Jack so quite?

"Yes, Jack, tell me. See, while you and the Guardians frolicked around," Pitch walked fingers through the air, "I've been asking other spirits about you. They have interesting things to say. That, and your magic and appearance, helped me develop a theory. Two actually, and to prove one over the other I need to hear you voice. And the Sandman here just told me you can talk, though no one I spoke to has heard you do so. So, Jack Frost, please, say something. I'm quivering with anticipation."

Pitch had taken steps forward and he was now directly in front of Jack, looking down at him. Jack's lips were pressed together, the hand on his staff white with tension.

"Not going to speak? Then I'll have to force you to make a noise." He snapped his fingers and all four nightmares leaped at Jack.

With a cry of alarm, Sanderson surged forward but Pitch stood in his way with a scythe of black sand. Sanderson lashed his whips, Pitch cut through them, and then the Nightmare King stumbled as a nightmare hit his back.

Jack had launched it at him.

Taking the distraction, Sanderson dodged around Pitch and took Jack's arm, pulling them both directly up into the sky. As they went, he looked down to check on Jack. He had a cut on his forehead, but nothing too serious.

- _Are you alright?-_

Jack nodded, lips still pressed shut and Sanderson realize that Jack had dispatched of the nightmares silently. No gasp of surprise, or whoosh of air as a nightmare had slammed into him. Something in what Pitch had said was spot on, enough were Jack had gone mute around the other spirit.

Something red and in the air caught his attention, North's sleigh. Sanderson made a beeline for it, still pulling Jack behind him when a tsunami of black sand rose between them and the sleigh, nightmares braying into the sky like the curl of a wave. He cursed and let go of Jack's hand to call out his whips.

Jack dropped a few feet then gained control of the wind to hover there. The wave curled over them and crashed down.

Sanderson lost sight of Jack amidst the nightmares.

He lashed left and right, putting what fighting skills he knew to the test. There was a female cry of fury and Sanderson looked up to see Toothiana above him, destroying nightmares by flying through them.

"Where's Jack?"

He looked down to see Bunnymund and North looking at him from the sleigh below. His only answer was a shrug. Right now, Jack was as silent as Sanderson, but Sanderson's own golden glow allowed others to find him. Jack's magic should be doing something similar, so Sanderson cast around frantically for it. No sign. Pitch must have sent the main force of his nightmares against the frost spirit and the black sand was so thick the light of Jack's magic couldn't get through.

Sanderson tried to relate that to Bunnymund, but it was hard as they were distracted by fighting nightmares.

Suddenly, there was a soft boom and as one the Guardians raced towards it. Then came a brilliant flash of blue silver light, Jack's magic, a giant sphere that not only froze the black sand in it but forced the nightmares to break apart and fall to the ground like rain. In the center floated Jack and it was obvious the fight had not been kind to him. There was blood dripping down his left leg and while Jack had normally held his staff in his right hand it was in his left now, the right arm hanging limply against his side. He had born the attacks and pain silently.

Pitch Black was before him, mounted on a nightmare. He remained unscathed, but was frowning at Jack.

"I see I'm going to have to use more forceful methods."

No! Sanderson zoomed forward, Toothiana on his heels, while the sleigh and thus North and Bunnymund got caught in a bunch of nightmares.

Bracing his staff against his side, Jack aimed the crook and lifted his chin in a 'come and get it' gesture. Pitch brought back his arm as if pulling a bow, a large arrow of black sand condensing in front of him. "You obviously don't care for your own injuries, Jack Frost, but what about theirs?"

Pitch rotated on the back of his mount and released the arrow not at Jack like Sanderson had expected, but right at him. Moving too fast to dodge, the black sand hit Sanderson in the chest like the force of a meteorite crashing onto an atmosphereless planet. He stumbled in the air, his golden cloud breaking so quickly Sanderson was thrown forward onto his hands and knees. With horror, he noticed that the golden sand that made his arms was turning black.

"Sandy!" Toothiana was rushing towards him, dodging nightmares.

But he ignored her in favor of Jack Frost.

"No! Sandy!" he shouted, sending a bright wave of magic towards the Dream Guardian.

Pitch was laughing. "Oh! I know that voice! You, Jack Frost, are none other than Kokab Lunanoff!" He surged forward to attack, but Jack was still concentrating on the spell heading towards Sanderson. Pitch hit him hard in the side, black sand swirled around them, and Sanderson had just enough time to see the sand disappear taking Jack and Pitch with it before he passed out.

* * *

 **A/N: Who called it?**

 **Actually, it might be too early to ask that. Things get a little...complicated next.**

 **For those who haven't read First There Were Fearlings...in that fic I give names to MiM's family that have become my head canon. Kokab is Manny himself, and his mother is Charaka.I created such names based on the Amharic words for 'star' and 'moon' respectfully, as I was living in Ethiopia at the time where there was no public library to rent the books from.**

 **This is also why I had no idea who Nightlight was while writing this aside from bits I gathered from fanfiction and decided he was an alien from a race called star herders - hence Sandy's thoughts about Nightlight in this chapter. And if you're curious, I do go into star herders a bit in First There Were Fearlings...**


	6. Jack's Center

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 6 - Jack's Center  
**

* * *

It had to be a joke. Jack Frost? Kokab Lunanoff? The kid looked nothing like the prince. And besides, Manny was living on the Moon Clipper. Wasn't he?

Aster looked up at the sky as North drove the sleigh away from Burgess.

The Moon shone brightly, no indication that anything was amiss there. The sky however twinkled, as if filled with tiny silver pieces of confetti drifting slowly to Earth. Except it wasn't confetti, it was sand imbued with the iridescent black and silver of Pitch's and Jack's magic.

"What now?" he asked, looking to North. But the Russian just shook his head, evidently in shock at one thing or another. There was a lot to be shocked about.

"It's obvious, we help Sandy." He turned to look at Tooth, who was kneeling next to Sandy where she had laid him down. The Dream Guardian had seen better days, that's for sure. Pitch Black's black arrow had struck true and had begun corrupting the golden sand of his form. Aster was positive that if it wasn't for the spell Jack had launched at Sandy, the comet would have completely been absorbed by the power of the corrupt sand. Instead, Jack's magic had frozen the vitiated sand and looking close Aster could tell there was less now than there had been ten minutes ago.

Jack Frost had cast a spell to reverse Pitch's and in doing so opened himself up to Pitch's attack.

Who wanted him, because Pitch had it in his head that Jack Frost was the Man in the Moon come to Earth. Which was crazy.

Aster shook his head. Thoughts for another time, for Tooth was right. They couldn't do much themselves to help Sandy, the spell work was complex and seemed specifically tailored for comets. Besides, Jack's magic was doing all the hard work. All they had to do was give it time to work.

"We can't do much for Sandy, shelia. Just find a nice quite place for him to heal." Aster wanted to offer the Warren, but he knew too little about Jack's magic. Would the wards on it lessen Jack's spell? Would it being cast through ice mean it could melt away in the Warren's spring sun? "Let's take him to the Pole."

North didn't have to be told twice, he pulled out a snow globe, whispered 'North Pole' to it, and chucked it in front of the reindeer. Aster didn't complain about the ride at all, he was too busy keeping vigil over Sandy across the Guardian's still form from Tooth.

"You'll be okay, Sandy," Aster said, squeezing a small, still hand.

Jack's magic seemed to flare in response before returning to it's frost like state.

* * *

They had been back at the Pole for only a short while, enough to get Sandy to the healing ward and a kettle on the fire, before Nicolas made his way to the Globe room. But he did not stare at the lights like he often did or gaze appreciatively at the painting of himself.

No, he stared up at Manny. Or rather, the Moon where his friend was supposed to be residing.

He supposed it made a sort of sense, Manny's period of no communication coinciding with Jack Frost's creation. And the recent silent type of messages, puppet shadows instead of words. And explained Jack's insistence on being called and showing up at the Pole in time with the crystal.

But if Jack Frost was indeed Manny, why had he not said so?

Who was on the ship, to have called up the crystal? To have beamed down the puppet shadow messages?

Nicolas shook his head. Jack being Manny made sense and it didn't, and thinking about it was just giving him a headache. Regardless, it didn't make a difference in the next course of action - they had to save Jack Frost. Manny. Kokab Lunanoff. Arg. He gave himself little slaps on the cheek to straighten up his thinking. Pitch Black would not be kind to any spirit, and so they had to save Jack.

Which meant finding Pitch's lair.

Nicolas turned his gaze from the Moon to the globe, searching for answers he was pretty sure he wasn't going to get. Pitch had always been good at hiding in the shadows, and his hidey-hole had never been found. Not even by Manny.

The kettle in the fire behind him let out a whistle and as if on cue two yeti came in with trays filled with mugs and hot cocoa supplies. Nicolas watched them make the drinks, then took the tray with steaming mugs himself and made his way to the healing ward.

Bunny looked up when he entered from his place leaning against the wall near Sandy's bed. Sandy, Nicolas was pleased to see, had regained most of his golden glow. He had been half corrupted before Jack cast that counter-spell, and now the only part of the Dream Guardian that was black was the area around the center of his chest where the arrow had hit.

The Easter Bunny reached out for a mug with a nod of thanks and then leaned back against the wall. Nicolas made his way to a the bed across from Sandy were Tooth was sitting surrounded by the bags of teeth they had collected earlier that evening, the mini fairies hovering around her. He waited for her to finishing handling a molar and then held out the tray. She took a mug with a smile.

"How's it going?"

"Okay, I guess. I'm still thinking what Jack said at the Palace has merit, that Pitch took the teeth so I couldn't activate the memories in them, so I'm making sure to activate the memories in these."

"But?"

"But I can usually tell when a child needs to remember good memories and none of these kids do. They're from all over the world, Pitch should be doing something somewhere that would result in these memories being needed. Why else take the teeth in the first place? He's not spreading fear like I expected him too."

"Maybe his plan changed."

They both looked over to Bunny.

"Cuz of Jack Frost," Nicolas guessed and the pooka nodded.

"Pitch had this all planned out, showing up here, attacking the Tooth Palace, but he didn't expect Jack Frost. None of us did. His presence changed things."

"You're familiar with juvenile stars, Bunny." Tooth took a sip from her mug. "Do you believe what Pitch said?"

Bunny shook his head. "I was just a kit when the war started, I never learned much about stars. And while I saw Prince Lunanoff once, he was just a kit too. Still too young to start school. But Jack Frost being one? I don't see it. Stars have a natural ability to control heat, he's ice. Though he does have odd similarities. He could understand Sandy." Bunny jerked his chin towards the still Guardian. "As in his light, not his pictograms."

"And Sandy and I saw him teleport using light of Moon."

"Really?"

Nicolas nodded.

"Well, I for one thinks it makes sense," Tooth said. "North?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe no."

"There's something else," Bunny added, walking away from the wall to join the other two on the bed. "Jack's voice. I had a theory he was two spirits merging, mainly because it sounded like there were two speaking at the same time when ever he spoke. I'd agree and say Jack is really two people, Jack Frost and someone else who might be a star, but I don't think it's Manny."

"Why?"

"Manny's still alive. As in, not a spirit like the rest of us. Regardless of why, that shouldn't be possible."

"You think spirit is someone who was in the Golden Age."

Bunny shrugged. "Maybe, mate. But honestly, Jack's just an odd bloke."

"Pitch could be right, one of us could be right, we could all be wrong." Nicolas said. "Does not matter now. First, we wait for Sandy to wake up, then we find Pitch and rescue Jack. Does not matter who he is."

They sat in silence for awhile, then Tooth went back to activating memories, Bunny went back to standing guard, and Nicolas started sketching possible ideas of improvements to the Tooth Palace.

* * *

'Kobab Lunanoff', just like 'Jack Frost' didn't seem right in his mind.

But he had other things to worry about.

Not Sanderson, he would be fine, but himself.

He may not have a name he was completely happy with, but he knew who he was. He was light and laughter, snow and ice. None of which he could see here below the Earth.

* * *

Pitch had expected...something. A grand dismissal and laugh as the spirit in front of him denied that he was Prince, no Tsar Lunanoff now that his parents were dead. Maybe a regal pose as he admitted, yes he was the Man in the Moon. Or a fight to get free. A statement saying that the Guardians would come. A demand to know what Pitch wanted. A confused laugh at the name because he had no idea who Kobab Lunanoff was.

What he got was none of that. What he got, was nothing.

Jack Frost, Kokab Lunanoff, was sitting on his knees in the hollow of Pitch's globe, the seas filled with glass made from his nightmare sand. The glass shaded the other spirit with a grey tint, but it didn't hamper Pitch's view.

Pitch circled the globe, trailed by nightmares, and Lunanoff kept turning his head to do his best to keep Pitch in sight. His face was blank, he gave no indication he knew Pitch either from at the Tooth Palace earlier or from before coming to Earth. He just watched and Pitch watched in return.

He was letting his mind doubt his earlier observations, that this really wasn't the Prince grown up, because this personality was all wrong. But no, his appearance, the radiation his magic gave off. The fact that when this spirit spoke in a dry, hoarse, duel tone one of those voices sounded like the late Tsar Lunar.

This had to be Kokab Lunanoff and Jack Frost was just an Earthly disguise.

Not able to stand it anymore, Pitch broke the silence that had settled upon them since he had transported them to his lair.

"Is your true name Kokab Lunanoff?"

The pests trapped in the cages above them stopped their constant hovering, suddenly very interested in the figure below while before it had just been a passive curiosity.

"No more than it is Jack Frost."

"Don't play games, you just confirmed my theory for a second time. I know you are."

The birdbrains were causing quite a racket now. Was that an answering peep from Lunanoff? Pitch eyed him sharply, but couldn't imagine the spirit making such a noise and didn't see anything else that might either.

"Then why ask? Who's playing games now?"

Pitch allowed a shark smile to appear on his face. "I assure you, I'm quite serious. I could have a little fun, before I get to the main event, but I'm not one to play with my food."

Ah, good, there was the heavier fear he was looking for. Pitch closed his eyes and breathed it in before walking forward and crouching to put himself at eye level with Lunanoff.

"I know it's been a very long time, but do you remember what this is?"

Pitch extended his hand, palm up. In his other, he created a dagger and used it to prick the center of his palm. It wasn't blood that rose from the wound, it was too thick and black for that. Blood also didn't have the power to do anything other than pool in his palm while this substance grew upwards, like a balloon filling with air, for an inch before suddenly straightening to be twice as tall. In his hand stood a two inch humanoid figure, inky tendrils from it's body making it hard to determine any features.

Lunanoff had flinched when the thing stood up and was now staring at it with wide eyes. It was still growing, four inches now, five, six before it stopped and that was only because Pitch didn't want it any bigger. It had eyes now, small and piercing blue. Lunanoff's eyes in this form were a similar color and Pitch could imagine how he would look once possessed.

"I see you do recognize a fearling. I'm glad. There's not many left you know, but I've held on to a few. I failed before to make you my fearling prince, and I had thought my chance gone as you are no longer a child. But here you are before me, in a child's body, and I can't resist the desire to try."

Lunanoff swallowed. "It won't work."

"Maybe, maybe not. But we're going to try anyway."

He vanished the glass and Lunanoff moved quicker than he expected. In a flash, the teen had ducked under Pitch's arms and retrieved the staff that Pitch had foolishly left near the globe in a desire to torment Lunanoff with it being so close but untouchable.

The pests above them were twittering wildly in encouragement. There was no way Lunanoff could free them all but he jumped up to the closest one and unbolted it. Fairies flew into the air, some dive bombed Pitch, some swirled around Lunanoff and still others darted from tunnel opening to tunnel opening, trying to locate a way out.

Pitch waved a hand forward and the nightmares attacked. Like before, Lunanoff put up a good fight but he was still injured. He favored his right hand and it was obvious he had little experience using his left to direct his staff. He also seemed unable to bear weight on his left leg and his unstable stance gave little power to his physical blows.

He was pinned in minutes and Pitch sent the nightmares after the fairies to reclaim them.

Lunanoff was fastened to the ground, sand shackles on each of his limbs, and the escaped fairies had all been retrieved before Pitch stepped forward. The other spirit was still struggling so he had another band of nightmare sand form across his chest. At this, the pocket of Lunanoff's sweatshirt exploded with color. Tooth fairies, and not those that had escaped before. They had come with him, hiding in his clothes both now and in the fight before. No doubt, the source of the peep Pitch had heard before.

The fairies split up, each taking off down a tunnel and Lunanoff screamed after them, telling them to fly fast and find the Guardians, to mention the fearling. Pitch cut off his voice with a hand to his throat.

"After them," he instructed the nightmares. "Don't let a single one escape. There were five." Pitch turned his attention to Lunanoff, who was looking at him with a delicious mix of despair and determination.

Pitch smiled and gently encouraged the fearling from his palm to Lunanoff's forehead. "Enough games. I'm going to feast on your fear."

The fearling spread itself out to smother Lunanoff's face, entering his body through first his nose and then his mouth as the younger spirit opened it to scream.

* * *

She beat her wings as fast as she could, making snap decisions as she felt drafts on her feathers. She had to get out, had to tell her mother where Jack was, what Pitch was planning, had to help Jack. He had been so good in protecting her and her sisters, doing anything he could to save them from Pitch and now it was her turn to do the same.

A screamed echoed down the tunnel, high and shrill and it didn't stop. Jack screamed and screamed and screamed and she hovered there crying. Should she go back and help him? She wanted to so desperately, but she also knew that nothing she could do would make a difference.

Something slithered in the dark.

In a flash she was off racing again, trying to find a way out. She had to. Absolutely had to.

Anything else would doom them all.

* * *

Pitch laughed, unable to hear himself over Lunanoff's screams. It was working! The brat from ages ago would be his fearling prince, creating more and more fearlings and spreading terror through the stars. He could picture it: mortals trembling at his might, his image plastered over the world, believers cowering in corners, and a mausoleum of the Guardians' preserved bodies to serve as an example of what happens to those who would oppose him.

A perfect dark world.

Until the screams tapered off and Lunanoff began coughing. In Pitch's shock, the restraints dissolved away and the other spirit rolled over onto his side. He seemed to be unconscious, but still producing large wet coughs. As Pitch watched, black ink dribbled from Lunanoff's mouth and Pitch scowled in anger.

Weakly, the fearling slid out of Lunanoff and puddled on the ground near his mouth. When it stood up it wobbled and every third step it made towards Pitch was a stumble. It's blue eyes seemed confused and it wasn't until Pitch absorbed it back into his body did he understand why.

Pitch sat on his heels, staring at the younger spirit. The fairies above were silent, no doubt curious as to what effect the fearling had had on Lunanoff. But other than a lot of pain, there was nothing permanent.

"Two of you in the same body, how foolish. I'd ask how you did it, Lunanoff, but as you can't hear me right now and I don't really care, I won't. The details don't matter. If you thought this would protect you, or in your all knowing wisdom from observing from thought this would defeat me, you are wrong."

A nightmare came up to sniff at Lunanoff's hair and Pitch instructed it to drag the spirit back into the globe.

"See, my Prince, I may not have been adapt at magic before I became a spirit but I have had plenty of time to learn. And no matter what spell you did to attain your...current form, I will break it. And I'll take my time, drawing it out to have a little fun. We can make it a game, guess the right separation spell." Pitch waved a hand, reforming the glass to keep Lunanoff from escaping once he was awake.

The pests above him were still silent and Pitch tilted his head up to see them. "And what's a game with out an audience, cheering for one side or another. Tell me girls, should we take bets on how long it'll take me?"

They exploded into angry chittering and Pitch scowled at the noise. In retaliation, he set up a handful of nightmares to terrorize them. Their high pitched screams followed him to his library where he had some research to do.

* * *

 **A/N: Writing Pitch is harder in this fic than any of my others, particularly the dialog. He does little word puns from time to time in the movie and I tried to do the same, but I'm not sure I did it correctly.**

 **In other thoughts, how many of you thought you had pinned Jack down and now are confused again? Hehe. I don't apologize.**


	7. Sandman Returns

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 7 - Sandman Returns**

* * *

 **A/N: Um...Pitch is a lot more violent than I expected. Heads up for minor character death and allusions to torture. Also, kinda thinking now this story will not have a happy ending. You are warned.**

* * *

He wanted it to stop, for the pain in his chest to disappear even if he had to thrust a sword through his heart himself. But it didn't, and the only sharp things around were the beaks of fairies and they were so, so far away.

He blinked up at them, vision swimming. It looked like they were crying.

"No, that spell didn't work."

The pain was back and he was screaming again, blood underneath his fingernails as he clutched at his chest and in his mouth because he had torn his throat with his scream and bitten though his lips and inner cheeks.

Spirits didn't die easy.

That was a pity.

* * *

Lunanoff was no longer responsive, so with a sigh Pitch closed his spell book. He could have still cast it, and the spell would still get to work even if Lunanoff was unconscious, but if he wasn't aware enough to scream and twitch it wasn't any fun.

Pitch looked up at the birdbrains. "How many of you thought the fifth spell would work? None? Guess you can hold on to whatever you bet then."

Pitch hated to admit it, but Lunanoff's spell was getting to him. While he had boasted he didn't need the details to separate them, that was apparently false. Separation spells were specific. At least, with each failed attempt Pitch was getting closer and he was gaining a better understanding of the spell the prince had used.

The spirit in front of him wasn't a new creation, two spiritual bodies meshed together to form a new one. Nor was he one spirit housing another. Or an artificial creation, complete with personality, that Lunanoff was hiding in. A human body with a spiritual addition was wrong too. And on the off chance that he was wrong and this wasn't a magical merger but rather a traditional one of two stories, and thus spirits, merging naturally - say, Jack Frost and a lunar deity of the Sumerians - the most recent spell would have take care of splintering them.

But none of the spells had worked.

Laying spent on the floor was the spirit he had captured a not too long ago and the only effect his spells had had were to make him develop permanent trembles and sap his physical and magical resources enough where he now looked like a starved child. Thin arms and legs, bony elbows, countable ribs.

Still, nothing that would kill him.

Spirits were strong than that.

With a huff, Pitch threw his spell book at the wall and it destroyed two nightmares before the rest dodged out of the way. What he needed was more information about the spirit laying on his floor, but there was none to be had. Jack Frost had been illusive, rarely interacting with other spirits and those he had Pitch had already drilled and drained of information.

No...not everyone.

He hadn't questioned the Guardians.

Or the little tooth fairies that had been hiding in his pouch. One of them had escaped, which unnerved Pitch to no end and that Nightmare had paid dearly. But there were four others who had spent time with him. He'd have to find some way of understanding them, of course, but that shouldn't be too hard.

It had been awhile since he played with something small.

"Bring me those four fairies who tried escaping before," Pitch called over his shoulder as he strode towards a tunnel. He needed to gather some supplies.

* * *

She had never, never flown so far in her life.

By the time she had out maneuvered the nightmares, her wings were already aching. But she couldn't stop, she couldn't. And even though she noted the location in her mind as Burgess, Pennsylvania, United States of America and it's distance from home she started on the journey to India.

She had to tell Toothiana. She couldn't stop flying until she did.

Her wings were sore, and she was so tired she had a hard time battling the winds, but she got there eventually. She sobbed in relief as the golden flash of balconies were visible and it gave her a boost of strength.

Except the palace was empty.

Her mother wasn't here. Nor were any of her sisters.

"No!" She squeaked to the wind, falling as her wings gave up. She couldn't move, she was too spent, reduced to crying and hiccuping as she laid on her side. "Jack, Jack, poor Jack. I wasn't fast enough, I don't know where to go now, Pitch is going to win, I know it. He protected me, and I can't can't do the same. Jack, Jack. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Something touched her shoulder and her cries stopped as she went on alert.

"Who, who's there?"

Another touch, but it wasn't really a touch. There was no warm pressure on her shoulder, just the feeling of her feathers being moved as if fingers were carding through them. But there were no fingers. Just the wind.

Wind.

Jack had talked to it, it was his friend, she had felt them work together while they collected teeth. There had been rumors, that the wind had a type of intelligence, but she hadn't believed it until she heard Jack Frost talk to it.

Could it understand Fairish?

"Wind? Wind, do you understand me? If yes, touch my left foot."

It did.

"Oh! I'm so glad!" she sobbed. "Please, Jack's in trouble. Pitch has him and I know where, but I can't help him. Can you take me to the Guardians? I'm too weak to fly on my own right now."

Another touch on her left foot and she found herself being gently lifted before the wind rushed through the Palace. She wondered if this was what it was like to be a leaf or bit of dandelion fuzz.

The wind headed north, of course, the Guardians would be at the Pole she was so stupid for not going there first. She didn't have to flap her wings, the wind was doing all the work, so she closed her eyes for a short nap, dreaming of the tunnel entrance and the maze beneath the earth so she could remember it to tell her mother.

* * *

Pitch lobbed the fairy carcass into the fire to join the other two. It hissed at the added fuel, and then the acrid smell of burning feathers filled the small room. Pitch had noticed it more when he feed the first dead flying bug to the flames, now it wasn't even that noticeable.

To him.

The last remaining fairy however was gagging.

The first one he had played with had been brave, shrieking insults at him but nothing else. So had the second, but half way through the interrogation one of the ones in the cage and broken down and started talking and it unleashed a flood gate. The little pest sang and eager to avoid more pain the one on the table had joined in the conversation.

Jack Frost was three hundred years old. His voice could change. He had felt the tug of being called by the aurora. He had been selected to be a Guardian, but hadn't taken the Oath yet. His powers were ice, his magic the color of blue sliver. He could pace Toothiana in the air, knew things, developed a new plan for collecting teeth. He could teleport through moonbeams. He was kind and friendly, liked competition and games, had no believers. Jack had saved a teeth capsule from Pitch's attack of a boy who had looked like him with brown hair, but had never opened it. A capsule that had been lost during the most recent fight.

All interesting news, but nothing that helped him in figuring out what spell to use.

Pitch turned to the remaining fairy.

She hadn't talked at all, just cried, but she hadn't told her sisters to stop talking either.

"Anything you can tell me that they didn't?"

She shook her head no and Pitch believed her. She was too terrified to lie, and he didn't sense a fear of being found out. Just as well, she could tell her sisters in the larger cages just what had happened in this little room. About pulling off wings and Y-cuts on their chests, about squeezes and plucks, about the smell of burning feathers and the sizzle of fat.

* * *

His friends cut right to the chase.

"Sandy, why did Pitch think Jack was Kokab Lunanoff?" Bunnymund asked.

Sanderson mimed talking. His voice, his magic.

"And do you believe him?"

He paused, thinking hard. Sanderson stood by what he had said earlier. Jack Frost was a spirit, and Kokab Lunanoff was not. Jack could not be Kokab, they were separate people. But he also knew possession was possible. And if Kokab was possessing Jack Frost, for whatever reason, many things would make sense.

The why could be addressed later.

With great ceremony, he nodded.

North punched the wall. "How could we not have noticed that Manny was not on Moon? Why did he not come to us sooner? Why big secret?"

Toothiana hovered at his shoulder. "North, Manny's never told use everything. You know that. He hints, he guides, but he's never directly interfered."

"He has now."

Bunnymund tapped Sanderson's shoulder. "You sure, mate? Because I'm not. Why would the Prince do that? Or how? He's still alive, right?"

He nodded, but shrugged too. He had never understood the minds of main sequence stars.

"We can answer all those questions later," Toothiana said, still trying to calm North down. "But the only one who can do that is Jack and right now he's with Pitch who knows where. Action first, answers later."

Sanderson never would have labeled her as a 'shoot first, ask questions later' type of woman, but in this case he supposed it made the most sense. He waved his hands to get their attention and then created a globe with a question mark superseded over it on his head.

North shook his head. "We have no idea where Pitch and Jack are. After fight, Pitch called huge amount of black sand and took them somewhere else."

There was a loud rattle as a gust of wind blew the windows off their hinges and the cold air swept around the room. Excited chirping meet his ears and suddenly there was a mini meeting of tooth fairies in the center of the room, the three that had been sitting on the pile of teeth on a nearby bed converging on a fourth fairy.

She looked exhausted, but unharmed. She pushed her sisters away and flew into Toothiana's face. The fairy queen took her into cupped palms.

"Oh! You were with Jack!"

She nodded and then started squeaking and chirping, pantomiming as she spoke and Toothiana's face went pale.

"Toothy?"

"It's...she knows where Pitch and Jack are, and the rest of my fairies."

"Wonderful!"

"What else did she say?" Bunnymund said and Toothiana looked from him to Sanderson and back to Bunnymund. "Tooth, what did she say?"

"Pitch has a fearling. He's going to turn Jack into a fearling prince."

Bunnymund swore and Sanderson felt his own body drop to the bed he had been hovering a few inches over.

Fearlings. They had taken over the body of Pitch Black, but Sanderson had honestly believed they were gone now, defeated or dissolved as Pitch had gone from general to puppet to independent spirit. Apparently not. They were evil creatures, and something about their nature meant they could only multiply with the aid of an innocent possessed by one. A person who created fearlings through their body, more like a mother than a prince, but long ago the best person fitting the requirements to be one had been Kokab Lunanoff.

"Will that even work?" North asked, face scrunched up. "Considering Jack is...odd?"

"Who knows?" Bunnymund answered. "But I don't want to wait to find out. Tooth, where are they? I have a boomerang with Pitch's name on it."

* * *

It had been a whim, using this particular spell. When Pitch had thrown his spell book at the wall before, he had left it where it lay in his frustration. Torturing some of the pests hovering above him had made him feel better and he figured the spell the book had opened to was worth as good a try as any of the others he had used.

Pitch hadn't expected it to work.

But it did.

There were two forms on his stone floor. One was Jack Frost, looking the same as he had before. The other was a small child. White hair, skinny, and while his eye color was hidden by his eyelids Pitch suspected it was similar to Jack's. Those round cheeks and short cowlick in the back of his head had been in Pitch's mind for years and years. This was a very young Kokab Lunanoff, looking as he had the last time Pitch had actually seen him when attacking the Moon Clipper.

It was impossible, the prince had grown since then, Pitch knew it, but still he couldn't help the swell of victory in his chest.

"You are mine, forever and always from this minute," Pitch cooed as he reached out a hand.

He didn't expect to have his hand pass through the boy.

That wasn't normal. He'd have to look at what exactly that spell did, he had cast it without doing much other than reading the incantation.

Curses. If he couldn't touch Lunanoff, how was he supposed to turn him into his fearling prince?


	8. Jack Memories

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 8 - Jack's Memories**

* * *

It was a groan of pain that disrupted Kokab's staring at the wall. In a flash, he was across the cave cell he found himself in and was kneeling besides Jack. He wanted to touch him, but knew that would be impossible. Being here was supposed to be impossible too, but as it was Kokab was glad he was with Jack.

"Jack. Jack, talk to me." Kokab's hands hovered over the bunched up form.

"My, my head. It hurts," Jack whimpered.

"Anything else?"

"I - _gasp_ \- keep seeing things."

Kokab winced, shutting his eyes. When he had cast the spell three hundred years ago, it had mentioned things like this happening. Two souls in a body, something was bound to give. When he had awoken, Kokab's memories of living on the moon flooded his mind just like Jack's were flooding his, but at least Kokab had known the reason.

"I'm sorry, it's the spell. We were merged, and for our souls to handle it our memories and sense of self were suppressed."

"Is...is that why...the past three hundred years are...are..."

"Fuzzy?" Kokab suggested. Now that he and Jack were two separate beings, he was seeing the past three hundred years in a different light. How he would have acted as Kokab he hadn't, just like Jack hadn't acted like Jack. They hadn't their memories, or sense of self, and so had spent the past three centuries behaving like neither and both of them.

Kokab could recall those years now with perfect recall, but he felt removed from them. As if he was an actor watching a film he had starred in but until this time didn't realize was fiction.

"I was going to say behind a glass wall, but that works." Jack was uncurling, still clenching his head. "What in the world happened?"

"A few hours ago, or a few hundred years ago?"

"Uh, both."

"Let's start with introductions. I'm Kokab Lunanoff."

"I'm Jack-" he trailed off.

"Jack Frost," Kokab insisted and Jack mutely shook his head.

"Yeah, that's what the Moon said. And hey, he sounded like you."

Kokab coughed into his hand. "I...um...am the Man in the Moon."

"You look like you're seven."

Kokab looked down at his hands. Well, he had expected this form to look different from his body, and judging by his hands he knew he was young, but seven? He sighed. Not his day.

There was a slither from outside the bars on their cell. Jack shoot out his arm and Kokab was fairly sure it was to grab Kokab and pull him behind the winter elemental but all that happened was Jack's arm went through him. Jack, to his credit, didn't openly gape at him and instead leaped up to put himself between him and the slithering sound.

Kokab knew Jack was a good choice for a Guardian.

The noise didn't come again. Assured of their safety, Jack turned around and crouched down to be eye level with the kneeling Kokab. Guessing what Jack wanted to check, Kokab held out his hand and Jack slowly lowered his own palm over it until they should have touched. Except Jack's hand passed right through.

He quickly pulled his hand back. "Did, did that hurt?"

"Not really."

"Why can't I touch you?"

Kokab looked around the cell for the tell tale signs of Pitch. The glowing eyes of nightmares or deeper than normal shadows with wavering edges.

"You...you realize you're a spirit now?" The magic that had turned Jackson into Jack was hasty in an effort to preserve his body, and as a result Jack's memories had been locked away. Toothiana could help get them back, if they found his tooth capsule that Kokab vaguely remembered them dropping during that fight in Burgess. Jack's lack of memory had been one of the things that pushed Kokab to merge them, he had expected it to lessen the strain on the pair of them. It hadn't. Still, Jack had only spent a few days as a spirit before Kokab cast the spell, it wouldn't be unheard of for him to not realize what he was in that time.

"I-uh yeah. I remember people walking through me. And others called us a spirit. Not to mention," he looked down at himself, "I haven't changed in three hundred years."

"Just checking! Becoming a spirit is a huge life changing event and dealing with it can be messy sometimes."

"Yeah well, I have three hundred years of memories of being one. That sorta helps. Even if it's still a bit confusing as to why."

"Ah, that's me. Like I said, I'm the Man in the Moon, present form not withstanding, and I lead the Guardians whose job it is to protect children."

"Ye~ah. We just spent a few days with them - oh! Sandy! Do you think he's okay?"

"Yes." Kokab looked at his own memories from that fight. He was emotionally removed from them, he was no longer that person and at the time they had acted on instinct. But in hindsight, he realized it was a counterjinx and that Jack probably didn't know that, not having studied magic before their merger. "The spell we cast will reverse the effect of Pitch's, though it's not very fast acting."

"Right then. You were saying?"

"You...died. As a human. It was the way you died, getting your sister to believe that you'd have her laughing and smiling instead falling through the ice, and then giving your life for her by switching places. It made me realize you would be an excellent Guardian. So I used my magic to turn you into a spirit."

Jack nodded, surprisingly calm at learning he was dead. Then again, Kokab figured it was somewhat obvious with 300 years of spirit memories and an unchanging body. "I only remember being a spirit for a few days though."

"Yes. We merged shortly after."

"Are you going to say why?"

"It's..." Kokab couldn't help the embarrassed blush that crept over his face. The reasons all seemed childish now, but then he supposed that made a bit of sense considering his current form. One was the missing memories, that made him think the spell would be easier on the pair of them and allow Kokab a bit more sense of self. Two was the way Jack had looked after his transition to spirithood. He had looked so much like Nightlight that it pained Kokab.

Nightlight had been more than his guardian star herder, he had been who Kokab looked up to and aspired to be, thanks to Sthay's constant busy nature as Tzar. The spell was born from a desire to connect with a missing loved one.

It was, in hindsight, selfish and not an entirely good reason to force Jack to loose himself for three hundred years.

"As Man in the Moon, I can't do much here on Earth. I'm not a spirit, I'm still a living breathing person. An alien to be exact, but my desire to not die keeps me on the Moon Clipper - the space ship that's the Moon. In order to help out here in an more active role, and as your memories were damaged in your change to a spirit, I figured that you would be a good host."

"The whole forgetting-who-we-were-thing not in the plan huh?"

"No." Kokab hung his head, ashamed, but then lifted it to look into Jack's eyes. "But I'm not regretful that I did it. Sure, we might be in a bit of a bind now, but I enjoyed the years we spent as one."

"Yeah, me too. We did some good things."

They shared a grin.

"So, why did we feel like the Moon was watching us all the time?"

Kokab smacked his forehead. Interesting how he could touch his own body, but no one else could. "The moonbots and moonmice. I bet they're worried sick."

Jack raised an eyebrow and Kokab explained. "Servants on the Moon. They raised me since I was younger than I appear now. They also advised me not to do this, but I went ahead and did it anyway. The bots are programed to not disobey me and the mice can't do a whole lot to prevent something like this."

Jack nodded and lapsed into silence. Kokab let him churn through his thoughts. He had just had a bunch of information dropped into his lap.

"That...thing that came out of his hand. A...fearling?"

Kokab shuddered. "A creation of my race. We figured that the best way to conquer fear was to give it form and then physically overpower it. It only worked for so long, and then possessed the man Pitch Black used to be. Pitch Black went on to kill most of three alien species - my own, Bunnymund's, and...star herders." He couldn't quite bring himself to say 'Nightlight' aloud. Nightlight, who could still be alive, but most likely wasn't.

"He wants to possess you, or rather, have the fearling possess you."

"Yes, but he can't. See, I used a rather unusual spell, considering I'm still alive and you're technically not. You're a spirit, the living embodiment of a soul. I'm just a soul," Kokab passed his hand through Jack's forearm. "My body is still alive in a stasis machine on the Moon."

"Must be an awesome machine. But where does that leave us? And Pitch? Think he'll just let us go?"

"Oh no," spoke a voice from the walls. "Lunanoff might be untouchable, but you, Jack Frost, are not."

* * *

Once Sandy proved he was a hundred percent, the Guardians set out for Burgess. Tooth was a little miffed that Jack had been so close when Pitch took him and they hadn't noticed, instead going all the way to the North Pole. But Sandy had needed to recover and she couldn't regret the benefit the bit of rest had done to her as well.

Now that the golden Guardian was out of danger, her thoughts turned to Jack.

She had to agree with Sandy (and dare she say it Pitch Black) that Jack seemed to be Manny. No one else in history had inspired obedience and loyalty in her like he had. No wonder she had had all those desires to bow to him, follow his command, and protect him.

Tooth still felt those feelings, doubly now that she knew Pitch's plans. Her fairy had mentioned that Pitch had failed to turn Jack into a fearling the first time, but that had been almost two days ago. So much could have happened since then.

She looked up at the moon. It was late afternoon, but it was still visible. Tooth started a silent prayer, request, to Manny like she often did in difficult situations and then realized that for the past three hundred years he hadn't been there listening. He had been here, on Earth, playing in snowbanks with children. Tooth couldn't help the smile that formed on her face, it was good for the head Guardian to actually get in some kid time.

Her smile fell as she remembered that Manny was now not just on Earth, but under it in the care of Pitch Black. Hopefully not for much longer.

* * *

 _Everyone on this planet can see me_.

Aster didn't know why Jack's words were sounding in his head.

Back then, in Jamie Bennett's bedroom, Jack had said it so nonchalantly. As if it was common sense. And then also said that if no one believed in 'Jack Frost' that was okay. Aster suspected that if he hadn't been turned into a spirit and connected to the belief of children, he might have held a similar idea. He only cared about belief because it gave him power. If he could get power from elsewhere and still protect the children, being seen wouldn't be that big of a deal.

 _Everyone on this planet can see me._

Jack had to be sharing a form with a star. There was no other explanation. But that meant at least one person they hadn't known about had escaped from Pitch Black's reign of terror. And if a juvenile star had, maybe more Pooka had too.

 _Everyone on this planet can see me._

Aster looked up to the stars he had once lived among. Too much sunlight to see any of them, but there was the Moon Clipper with it's cratered hull. The stars had really out done themselves, building a space ship large enough to be a moon. It was just luck that pretty much every culture had a moon based story...

 _Everyone on this planet can see me._

Stars above, the moon was the only thing everyone on the planet _could_ see. Jack had said everyone, not just children. And everyone need simply look up on most nights and see the glowing orb.

Aw hell, Jack Frost _was_ Kokab Lunanoff. Or shared a body with him. A merged consciousness too, based on their speech pattern.

The moon has ice powers, Aster randomly thought to himself and had to hold back a giggle. Really, hysterically laughing in the back of North's sleigh was not something he should do at the moment but this entire situation - that Manny had merged with a no-name spirit and no one noticed only to be captured by Pitch Black and was most likely in the process of being turned into a fearling - was so dire that Aster had to do something to prevent himself from curling up and sinking into despair.

It Pitch actually made a fearling prince...

Torn between a laugh or a sob, Aster bit his lip. He'd urge North to go faster, but he already knew they were going as fast as they could safely go.

* * *

"Let me go!" Jack dug in his heels, forcing Pitch to drag him, but the Nightmare King didn't have any problem doing that. His grip on Jack's wrist was tight, the nails digging into his skin like claws. Against his will, Jack found himself pulled down the rocky tunnel, the bottom of his feet raw from the stone. Pitch didn't even seem to notice the blood trail and he certainly didn't pay any attention to Jack's demands.

Jack looked over at Kokab, but the soul just shook his head sadly. He had tried at first to pry Pitch's hand off of Jack, but his intangible nature meant he couldn't do anything. Even the nightmares walked through him. All Kokab could offer him was words and a friendly presence.

Pitch pulled him into the large room with the globe and hanging cages. Jack had enough time to realize many of the cages with fairies were not as full as last time he saw them before being roughly thrown to the ground. The Boogieman snapped his fingers and cords of black sand came out of the floor to bind Jack to the stone. Like before, Jack struggled, and like before, it was useless.

Kokab knelt next to Jack's head and glared at Pitch.

"The Guardians are coming."

Pitch ignored him.

"It's a pity, Lunanoff, that young Jack Frost here will be taking the brunt of evil meant for you. You're no stranger to that, are you? Jack isn't the first to die in your place."

Kobab fisted his hands, but didn't say anything.

"All those stars on Wrice, whose escape shuttles were delayed so the Moon Clipper could get away. Your personal guard, Nightlight I believed he was called. So many deaths. Jack Frost is just another name on the list."

While he spoke, Pitch sliced his palm and the fearling started forming in it. Jack stared at the black creature, horrified. He could remember it trying to force its way into him before and knew that this time it would work. Pitch grinned at him, all evil and fangs, and then Kokab was leaning over him with his chubby child face.

"Jack, the Guardians are coming. I swear they are. You just need to hold on. Think happy things, positive thoughts, dreams come true."

He opened his mouth to answer and Pitch gagged him with sand. Jack wanted to say what happy things? His time as Jack Frost had been brief, just a few day. He hadn't really figured out what he wanted, except for people to not walk through him, and even merged with Kokab that had not happened. Jack never had a dream come true. His only positive thoughts were learning how to fly and he wasn't sure that would be good enough to hold back a fearling.

Jack tried to tell Kokab this silently, tell him goodbye and thank you for being there.

Kokab's form wavered as Pitch Black stuck his hand through the star soul to cover Jack's nose and mouth. The fearling oozed up his nose and the sand in his mouth faded away to allow him to scream.


	9. Memorial

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 9 - Memorial**

* * *

 **A/N: I have to say, it's so hard describing Baby Tooth without actually using her name. Cuz in this verse Jack hasn't named her yet XD**

 **Also, it's getting super hard to name these chapters. It's all titles of songs from the OST, but things have differed a bit from the movie...**

* * *

"Stop!" Tooth screamed and North pulled on the reins.

"What's wrong?" Bunny asked while North quieted down the reindeer.

They were still a little outside of Burgess and the fairy in Tooth's hand was yelling that Jack was still farther ahead. But something had captured Tooth's attention as they were flying and now that they weren't moving she could tell what it was.

"There's a toothbox nearby."

"Toothy, we have to rescue Jack! Now is not time for teeth."

"But none of the teeth at the pole belong to children who needed good memories. This one, this one does."

"Jack!" the fairy in her hand chirped, tugging on a finger. "Jack had a toothbox, but he never opened it! It fell out of his pocket fighting Pitch."

Well, that settled it. Tooth dived out of the sleigh to the shocked shouts of her friends. "I'll be right back!" she threw over her shoulder.

She wasn't surprised when Sandy showed up next to her and was grateful for his help. It was past dark and finding the toothbox would require light even if her connection with the teeth would get her pretty close. They flew fast and low through small hills divided by a highway before Tooth landed.

"It's around here somewhere, Sandy. Can you spread a little light?"

He nodded and glowed, sending tendrils of sand in the air and there next to patch of wildflowers was the golden toothbox. Tooth rushed to pick it up and turned it to look at the picture. The boy had brown eyes and brown hair, not like Jack at all, and she had never seen him smile like that. But her fairy confirmed, yes, that had been the capsule Jack had. It was important to Jack in some way and maybe, maybe it would help.

It burned in her hand, the memories wanting to be released, but she held off. She didn't know who this boy was, only Jack did, Manny did, and Tooth would leave the decision of reawakening memories to him.

"Let's head back."

* * *

Aster frowned over the edge of the sleigh, looking for Sandy and Tooth, when they came at them from the other side. Ten minutes, not super long, but it was still time Aster knew they didn't have to loose.

"Tooth-"

"We need this toothbox Bunny, Jack, Manny had it. It has to be important."

North flicked the reins and the reindeer took off. Aster's rebuttal died in the lurch so he settled for a glare and turned to look towards the others for support. North was focusing on the ground in front of them and Sandy looked like he was backing up Tooth on this one.

"Fine. Is there a reason it's glowing like that?"

"This child needs happy memories right now."

"So why aren't you activating it?"

"I feel like I need to wait for an order to do it."

"You're a fairy queen! You don't take orders!"

"I do. From Manny. Jack has always given me the feeling that I should obey him, even before we knew he was Manny. And something tells me Jack has to do something with this."

Aster shook his head, but he understood. "He always made me want to prove myself, so I get it. Sort of. But Tooth, it's obvious a child needs those memories now."

As if on cue, the light died.

* * *

Kokab flinched back as soon as the fearling entered Jack. Pitch paid him no attention, all his focus on the frost spirit as Jack writhed and screamed on the floor. Kokab kept stepping backwards, fingers in his mouth.

He never wanted...never expected. Merging with Jack was supposed to have been for the benefit of both of them. Or at least, to fulfill Kokab's needs. He wasn't above seeing how selfish he had been. But the new combined being they had created, with it's odd habits, had attracted Pitch and led to this. If only Kokab had stayed on the Moon Clipper this never would have happened.

Logically, he knew that he should leave. Find the Guardians. He couldn't do anything here, being intangible. And it would be so easy, if he concentrated he could go through the rock to the earth above. Souls didn't have any type of body to weigh them down from flight.

But Kokab couldn't leave Jack. Jack who had looked at him with such hopeless eyes. Jack, who had only wanted to be seen and not be lonely. Kokab couldn't let him die alone.

He stood against the stone and watched as Jack's body arched, fingers and toes digging into the rock. Kokab could see the blood. Jack wasn't screaming anymore, his throat too stuffed with inky darkness to allow that. It was still obvious he was in pain. And then, it all stopped. Jack laid limp on the floor and Kokab knew what was coming next.

On Wrice, when he had watched the news broadcasts of the war as a child, the thing that frightened him the most had been watching a fearling take over a body. It wasn't like what they had done to Kozmotis, using him as a shell, a home. A safe retreat for the newly birthed. No, these fearlings became the body. They devoured the soul, tainted the flesh. The original person was gone.

The process was a little different this time, after all Jack's body was already dead. There was no blood vessels popping as they were overstuffed with fear, no nails turning yellow as the nail beds died, skin sagging as life slipped away. Instead, the bit of magic - Kokab's magic - that had held Jack together kept the teen intact. Jack's pores started leaking shadow, black wispy trails that evaporated in the air. Fear. No one would be able to get near him now without feeling it.

Kokab watched, waiting for the final sign of Jack's soul being snuffed out - for Jack's clothes to darken with melted frost as the essence that powered his magic disappeared.

"Look at you," Pitch purred, looking down at Jack when the teen's eyes had opened. They were still the same shade of blue, but his pupils had changed to those of a cat. "You're absolutely beautiful."

Pitch extended a hand and helped Jack to his feet. Kokab was surprised to see a faint trace of frost on Jack's sleeves, but put it down as staying due to residual magic. Jack wobbled, but then found his balance. He ran a hand down his own chest and Kobab knew it was the fearling getting used to its new body.

Now. Kokab had to leave now. Now while the fearling was weak and new, unable to do its princely duty of producing new fearlings for a few months. Logically, Pitchiner would keep Jack underground for years until the fearling in him had created more to possess others. If Kokab could get the Guardians to attack now, while the fearling was weak...

Kokab bent his legs, preparing to jump when Pitch spoke again.

"Lunanoff, we can't have you leaving so soon. We're celebrating a birthday and I figured you would want to see my spell collection later."

Kokab dodged a black sand rope aimed at his middle, but he needn't have bothered. He was incorporeal to even Pitch's sand and the attempt to grab him phased through his hip. Kokab launched himself upwards to the sound of Pitch's growl, moving through solid rock. He kept his focus on continuing his current direction to make sure he didn't move parallel to the Earth. He had to get above ground!

The sudden burst of sunlight blinded him and Kokab threw his hands up to shield his eyes. It was only the last bit of rose from sunset, but it had been awhile since he'd seen natural light. After a few blinks, he stared down to memorize the Earth below him. This was the entrance to Pitch's lair and he had to be able to lead the Guardians to it.

As it was, a flash of red had him turn. Nicolas's sleigh. How the Guardians were already here, Kokab didn't know. But he was thankful for it.

 _Fly_ , he thought to himself. However, being a soul meant the wind passed right through him and couldn't push him around like when he had been merged with Jack. Kokab had no idea how to reach the Guardians, to bring them here and quickly.

No, that wasn't true. Souls kept the power of the body and as a star he had power over heat. But beyond, being an O Class, royalty, he had one other power. Kokab closed his eyes and concentrated.

* * *

Nicolas kept an eye on the two fairies. The little one was looking over the side of the sleigh and Tooth was beside her, ready to translate directions. It was a good thing as it meant he only saw the explosion of light from the corner of his eye.

It spooked the reindeer and he had a hard time controlling them, a hard time seeing after he had turned towards the light. He had never seen something so bright, it made his eyes sting. Thankfully, by the time the sleigh was steady again the light was dim. He looked over his shoulder to check on the Guardians. Tooth and the little fairy were staring towards the light, the little one chirping excitedly. Bunny was rubbing his eyes, he had obviously been looking in the wrong direction when the light exploded. Sandy however was tugging on the end of Nicolas's coat and gesturing towards the light, an image of a sun over his head.

"Yes, yes Sandy. Was very bright like sun."

With a fume, Sandy shook his head and showed more images. The moon, the sun, a staff.

Nicolas still didn't get it. Bunny did though.

"North, that was _starlight_. From a main sequence juvenile star. The only one for sure in the area is Manny. Jack."

"YAH!" Nicolas didn't have to have anything else explained. He slapped the reins and the reindeer surged ahead. There was a token sound of protest from Bunny, but Nicolas ignored it. Delicate stomachs were not a major concern right now.

The light shrunk as they got closer, from a ball the size of a house to a glowing figure of a child. Suddenly, the light went out and Nicolas felt a rush of cold blow through him.

"Turn around!" Bunny yelled and without thinking Nicolas yanked on the reins. Looking into the turn, Nicolas saw a child floating in the sky. He had round cheeks and white hair with a piece in the middle that stood up taller then the rest on his head. There was something familiar about him, something friendly, and something old. This child was not that, just something with the appearance of one.

Sandy was pantomiming like crazy, Bunny asked him to slow down, and then the pooka said something Nicolas had already been considering.

"That's Kokab Lunanoff. That's Manny. But he's grown, I don't understand."

Manny didn't approach the sleigh, he didn't move at all aside from a frantic waving of arms, so Nicolas brought the sleigh up close.

"You are Manny, no? Great to finally meet you!"

Sandy was signing so much Nicolas was sure he'd find sand in his boots that night. Whatever he was asking, no one knew.

"I'm sorry friend, I do not have the time to answer your question. Jack is..." Manny winced, stared down at the ground, and then looked to Bunny. "Pitch has turned him into a fearling prince. I couldn't do anything to stop him, I could only watch. Aster, you have seen fearlings in action. They only grow stronger with time. Jack is newly made we have...we have to attack him and Pitch now. The cave is just beneath us."

Nicolas looked down to the trees below. He could just make out something on the ground and inky blackness around it.

"I need to land sleigh, we will meet you at entrance."

* * *

Sanderson looked around for Lunanoff. He didn't find him until he looked up and watched the young Tsar float gently down. The star seemed surprised he was even doing it and Sanderson sent him an encouraging smile. He knew that he had many years on the Prince, and that Kokab himself had many years on St. North, but Sanderson couldn't help but see a child and want to encourage him.

It was a little odd, watching him phase through tree branches, but Sanderson figured that was a conversation for another time.

"I don't know if I can guide you through the tunnels. I'm not really here, this is just my soul while my body is still on the Moon Clipper. Because of that I passed through all the rocks straight up. I can tell you, it's very deep below the earth. And there are lots of shadows that Pitch watches and moves through."

The little fairy began chirping, waving her arms in the air and Sanderson watched Toothiana nod as she spoke.

"My little one remembers the way she flew out, she can direct us." Said fairy chirped in acknowledgment, adding a vigorous nod.

Lunanoff looked at the little fairy and held out a hand. She flew towards him, and after falling through Lunanoff's hand buzzed up to hover above it. "I remember you. You were very helpful in collecting teeth."

The fairy puffed up with pride and the preceded to - Sanderson was guessing here - tell the Man in Moon tunnel directions. At the very least, she kept pointing in various directions.

Sanderson flew over to the pair, placing a finger on his lips to quiet the fairy. Jack, no, the fearling and Pitch needed to be stopped and now when they were weak from the effort of creating a fearling was the best time attack. It would be quicker to simply follow the fairy.

Pointing towards the hole in the ground, Sanderson started signing 'let's go' but Lunanoff also understood the radiation of stars and knew what the comet wanted before the Guardians could start to read Sanderson's first symbol.

"Yes, Sanderson is right. We should go."

With a nod, Sanderson called up a parachute and diving into the hole. His sand gave off a glow, showing off the uneven rock. The little fairy came down to hover near his ear, Toothiana on his other side while Lunanoff took up a position of between Sanderson's head and the fabric of the parachute. North and Bunnymund jumped and settled on the chute, weapons ready.

Slowly, they descended into darkness.

Sanderson could feel it move around them, alive and thick, and subconsciously the glow of his sand dimmed. How had Pitch gathered so much power without them noticing? Enough to almost take him out of commission a few night ago? Pitch would have succeeded if not for Jack.

The comet winced at the thought. Jack might have prevented a memorial for Sanderson, but Jack now needed his own. He was dead, though his body was still animated. Once turned into a fearling there was no going back and very often the body did not survive the destruction of the fearling that had taken it. Both dissolved when killed.

It made him sad, he would have liked to know Jack Frost has he was on his own. Sanderson was sure they would have gotten along. And now, the Guardians had to kill him.


	10. Oath of the Guardians

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 10 - Oath of the Guardians**

* * *

 **A/N: (keep in mind, when I posted this on AO3, there weren't weekly updates)**

 **Writing this chapter was super hard, mainly because between this one and the last I've read the books and reemerged myself into the In the Company of Others series. Plus read good fan fic. This has altered my head canons and played with thoughts, and while I tried to remember my original head space for this story it was hard to recall. And it plays a super important role here.**

 **So, to re-lay it out for me (and you guys) in this fic none of the book events happened, Manny, Pitch, and Sandy are actual stars-as-aliens (though Sandy's a different species then Manny's & Pitch's), Bunny was a Pooka warrior in the Golden Age and never wore clothes, Nightlight was Manny's guard who died in the final battle while Sandy fled such battle in fear, the Guardians were all slowly turned it spirits that gave them minimal power as explained in an earlier chapter, and Manny is a BAMF magician. I think that's everything. At the very least, my head is clearer.**

* * *

Nicolas had never been in such a hostile environment. It felt as if the very rocks beneath his feet were trying to open up and swallow him. He kept looking up to make sure hanging rocks didn't drop on his head. Worse then that was the heavy feeling of fear in the air. The more they traveled through the tunnels, the thicker it surrounded him until it felt as if he was walking through waist high water.

The other Guardians were gathered close, bunching together and slowing down as they followed the tiny fairy who had given up on flying and was instead riding on Tooth's shoulder.

"I've never felt the presence of fearlings so strongly before," Bunny whispered.

"Unless you had visited their prison, you wouldn't have," Manny answered. The small child soul was floating along side Tooth as she bravely led them, Sandy floating over Bunny and Nicolas as they followed behind. "Stones change under pressure and that of constant fear is always strong. Pitch has been here for many thousands of years and fear has filled every air bubble down here. You would never know that there is only one fearling instead of hundreds."

Nicolas hid a shiver. They had fought Pitch before and won, but down here in the dark spirit's home turf doing such a feat for a second time seemed near impossible.

* * *

Tooth floated to a stop, hovering barely an inch off the floor. North and Bunny stopped behind her back, Sandy's feet brushing her head feather as he floated above. Manny stood next to her, staring ahead.

No one moved.

"We have to keep going," Manny said. "The sooner we attack, the better."

"I know," Tooth answered, but she couldn't force herself to move forward. It was if a solid wall of fear was in front of her, terror so thick she could not make way against it.

"This is the worst part," Bunny said, "if we can get past this we've conquered half the battle." And yet, he didn't move either.

Tooth found her mind filled with images. Her fairies all dead. North run through by his own swords. Bunny lying still on stone with a cracked skull. Sandy consumed by black sand. Her own wings across the room from where she lay. Jack Frost, teeth sharp and stained by black blood.

They were fake, she knew that. Events that hadn't happened, events she was not going to let happen, events she feared would happen down to her bones. Events that could be prevented, if only she never stepped forward. If she turned back. If she didn't fight. If she ran.

Tooth honestly considered it.

If she was alone, she would have turned and fled. Left Jack, left Pitch, cuddled her one remaining fairy while she curled up on North's couch and cried and cried about her own inability to conquer fear and the horrible images that would never, never leave her mind.

But North was behind her. And Bunny. Sandy's golden glow and Manny's white one surrounded her. Tooth barely, just barely stood her ground. She would not run. But nor could she take that _one. step. forward._

The fear hit her ten fold with another image. Not that of doomed friends, but a doomed world. Where she failed in her duty, where the world died in darkness filled with millions of startled gasps. Where a few, a precious few could have been saved if only she had focused on them instead of battling a force she had no hope defeating. The world was going to end. Not today, not next year, but it would, and instead of preventing it her time would be better spent preparing for the apocalypse because _it was coming and there was nothing she could do about it._

Tooth's heart filled with warrior fierceness, because if there was one thing she would never do it was fail the children of the world. She would give up her wings, she would give up her life, because the children were _what she had, all that she was, and all that she would ever be._

Light flared, Manny and Sandy's courage and determination shining out brightly and suddenly Tooth found that not only could she move forward but she wanted to do so at high speeds. She was still scared, terrified, but there were certain things more important than fear and those galvanized her into action. Those feelings and strengths made her and her friends Guardians.

They launched themselves forward together, a synchronized unit, past the wall of fear as it dissolved away. Tooth had a quick moment to think _this is easy, now where is Pitch?_ before they were surrounded by nightmares.

Her blood was still running fast through her veins and Tooth went into battle without a second thought. She was Her Most Royal Highness Toothiana of the Tooth Fairy Army and nothing, _nothing_ was going to stand in her way.

* * *

Sanderson swung his whips left and right, cutting off legs and heads, sending nightmares crashing to the ground for St. North and Bunnymund to dispatch. He felt fresh, energized, but he knew it was just a momentary feeling. They had, to some extent, proved that fear had no power over them. But as stars had learned years ago, there was a difference between fear the emotion and fear the presence. One could not be afraid of Pitch Black, but still die by his scythe, and Sanderson knew this temporary feeling of elation would not last.

It never did.

Toothiana yelled, twisting her body through three nightmares on his left and he couldn't help but smile. Even if this temporary boost faded, he still thought their odds were good. Pitchiner and his new fearling would be weaker now then ever in the wake of the magic recently cast while he and the Guardians were ready for a fight.

They could do this. They had to.

There was a feeling of malevolence coming from above and Sandy took a chance to look upwards. Pitchiner was standing upside-down on the ceiling, staring down at them, and clinging on a stalactite next to him was what only could be a fearling controlled Jack Frost.

In his surprise, Sanderson missed an approaching nightmare. It reared over him, hooves flashing as they solidly landed on both of his shoulders. Sanderson found himself forced down, crashing into the rock below.

"Sandy!" Bunnymund called, quickly hopping to his side after slicing through four nightmares with a well thrown boomerang. Once the pooka was at his side Sandy pointed upwards.

"Strewth," Bunnymund swore as he noticed Pitchiner and Jack above them, the former grinning while the latter watched the battle without interest.

Sanderson shook his fist at the Nightmare King and called out to him in light. _-Come down you coward! Fight yourself, instead of your pathetic nightmares!-_

Pitchiner waved a hand and the nightmares pulled back, forming a ring surrounding the Guardians. On the ceiling, Pitchiner stepped into the shadow of the stalactite Jack was clinging to and reappeared in the shadow near Kokab. The star soul jumped as the ex-general walked through him and then paled as Pitchiner told Kokab something the rest of them couldn't hear.

"I'm not a coward Sanderson. I just enjoy an entertaining show. Watching my enemies die is my favorite program and I don't understand why I should get involved when I don't need to."

Bunnmund hopped forward. "Your nightmares are no match for us Pitch. Look around, half of your army is gone."

"The weak half, of course. Thank you for culling the herd."

Toothiana flew past Sanderson's ear, sword pointed in front of her as she honed in on Pitchiner's chest. The other spirit turned, pushed her extended wrist away with his right hand and then using the same elbow hit her in the sternum. She dropped the sword and fell to Pitchiner's feet, gasping for air.

"Toothy!" St. North rushed forward, standing tall between her and Pitchiner but by that point the Nightmare King had strolled way, giving the Tooth Fairy as much notice as a fallen leaf.

"My, you are no match for my nightmares, rabbit, but you're no match for me either."

Bunnymund sneered, but Pitchiner ignored him to make a gesturing motion above his head. Sanderson watched as Jack let go of the hanging rock and dropped. It seemed as if now that he was fearling possessed, was no longer truly Jack Frost, he didn't have access to the wind. He landed hard in an impact that surely sent pain up his shins but Jack's face didn't show any emotion.

This close, Sanderson could see the changes the fearling had made to Jack's body. Cat eyes, still an electric blue, and there was black smoke rising from inky pores on his skin. It was odd how smoothly he moved, fearlings were often jerky in their control of a dead body. Then again, Sanderson had never seen a possessed spirit before.

"Let's do this the old fashioned way, what do you say? One on one. Choose among you who will fight my fearling prince."

There was no reason to discuss it in Sanderson's mind. It would be him. He was light and dreams, a veteran at fighting fearlings and other nightmarish creatures. He had battled them in person centuries before and continued to push them away in dreams every night. Most importantly, Jack Frost in conjunction with Kokab had saved him from fading into the darkness. It was only right that Sanderson should save Jack and free what was left of him from Pitchiner's control. Sanderson would be the Guardian's champion. No more cowering in the face of Pitch Black.

He floated forward, whips cracking and ignoring his friends' shouts to talk and discuss this. It was too late anyway, Jack was already attacking.

* * *

Aster looked through his pouches for something to help Tooth but she was fine by the time North brought her to the corner where he stood with Kokab.

"I just had the wind knocked out of me, I'm fine."

Silence fell as they watched Sandy fight Jack. Aster had tried to step in moments ago, but had been held back by a nightmare. Pitch seemed adamant in keeping this one-on-one thing going and all they could do was watch.

Jack ran at Sandy before planting his staff and using it as a fulcrum for a kick, poising himself like a high jumper. His feet caught Sandy in the cheek, but the Guardian used the opportunity to wrap his whip around Jack's foot and swing up and over before slamming him into the ground.

Aster couldn't help but wince for Jack. Or, Jack's body. The not-Jack.

He was no stranger to fearlings, Aster had fought them several times. He knew what fearlings did, how they entered a person and killed them, the flesh and bones left behind staying together only through the will of the fearling until there was more fear then flesh left and they turned into inky personifications. You could tell by the smell of them usually how long ago a person had been corrupted, if you hadn't been frozen with fear enough to loose your senses.

Aster knew Jack Frost was dead, but couldn't help still thinking about the boy while watching the fearling fight and giving it the winter spirit's name.

As they watched the fight, Jack back flipped over a sand shark before slamming his staff down on its back to dissolve it.

Take away the trailing bit of inky fear from his skin, and Aster would have been hard pressed to label Jack as a fearling. He moved with all the grace of a limber spirit, exactly as he had when they had all gone collecting teeth the other night.

"This doesn't look right," he grumbled out loud. Tooth and North gave him confused looks. Of course they would. Despite battles with Pitch, they had never truly seen a fearling.

"No," Manny agreed and Aster found himself looking down at the spirit of the Man in the Moon. He didn't look much like a man, his appearance was that of a child, but he looked at Jack with such old eyes Aster knew it had been Manny's part of the merged spirit that unnerved him the most. Manny had seen things Aster hadn't and had no desire to.

"I've never seen a fearling prince, nor that of a spirit. Think that's what is making him abnormal?"

"Maybe."

They all watched Jack roll under Sandy, the frost on his sweatshirt twinkling in the light of the comet's glow.

 _That_ most certainly wasn't right.

Manny caught sight of it too, if the gasp was anything to go by.

"What?" North asked.

"Fearlings devour souls," Manny said. "They seep into a person, killing the soul inside to take over the body. Those who become fearlings never get a proper rest, never move on. But look at Jack, he's still got frost on his cuffs. He's _still got magic._ "

"Don't fearlings take on a person's talent?" Tooth asked, eyes on the fight as she tried to understand.

"Magic isn't a talent," Manny began. "I mean, it sort of is. There's good magicians and bad ones, but the ability to use it is not such a thing. It comes from the strength of your soul. None of you have strong magical powers because your souls are average. You did not wield magic while you were alive. I choose you to become Guardians because of your minds and hearts, your desire to protect and do anything in that service. And in changing you into spirits, into Guardians who are connected, I gave you each a bit of my own soul.

"That is where your magic comes from, me. It is why you have limited control over small parts of the world where as when I was blended with Jack we had an enormous amount of power. The ability to cast counterjinxes and raise storms, to ride the winds and teleport. We shared a soul and thus my power."

"Like Manny said, souls power magic and Jack's obviously got some. Just a tad. Even though fearlings are supposed to eat souls. We're missing something here." Aster frowned, willing the answer to come to him.

North shrugged. "We are spirits, not physical bodies like those of others. Surely this makes a difference."

"It does," Manny spoke slowly, as if gently putting puzzles pieces together and checking that they fit. "Souls give you power, are an embodiment of all that makes you _you._ Not your strengths, but your personality and values. But look at me!" He spread his arms wide and twirled in front of the tree Guardians. He kicked a loose stone but his foot went right through.

It clicked.

"Souls are intangible," Aster said. "They need a tether to allow them to interact with anything here. A body. But for those like us, who need to be around longer then a true body could handle," he waved a paw to included North and Tooth in his assessment. Manny, he knew, had a physical body that lasted millions of years with no problem. "We need a special type of body. One that doesn't age. Doesn't get sick. A spiritual one-"

"-and since the outer spirit only exists to protect the inner soul, if the soul is gone the spirit fades." Manny finished.

"Like how if the belief in us disappears, so do we?"

"Excatly, Toothiana." Manny beamed at her. "Belief is food for the soul."

"So this means the fearling couldn't completely eat Jack's soul, because then it's body would fade away."

"That explains the frost on his shirt," Aster said, "but not what we can do about it."

Not that it seemed they had to do much about it anyway. They had attacked so quickly because they knew Pitch and the fearling would be weak from its creation. True enough, Jack was panting hard and sporting multiple cuts from Sandy's whips.

As they watched, Sandy wrapped a rope of sand around Jack's feet and pulled him to the ground. The younger spirit fell, thrashing in the constraints, and Sandy formed a sword in his hand. Aster knew from experience there was only one way to kill a fearling, to stab them in the heart with a weapon of light. Dream sand certainly fit that bill.

Even if Jack Frost did have a bit of his soul left, Aster doubted it was at peace. In fact, he was more tempted to say a soul in pieces would be in more agony. He urged Sandy to make this quick in his mind, to ease the pain Jack most certainly was feeling. Aster may not have ever met the spirit, not truly, but no one deserved this fate.

Sandy stabbed downwards, but Pitch was suddenly there holding back the dream sand sword with his own nightmare sand scythe.

"Forgive me Sandman, but I find myself unwilling to see my prince die so soon."

The golden bindings on Jack dissolved as Sandy moved his attention from the younger spirit to Pitch, but Aster couldn't help but continue to stare at the teen. He lay on the ground, dazed, looking in their direction. Aster felt his priorities shift - freeing Jack's soul was the most important thing to do and then Pitch would find himself under Aster's back paw.


	11. The Moon

Dark Moon, High Tide

 _By Uniasus_

 **Chapter 11 - The Moon  
**

* * *

 **A/N:** Last chapter guys! So read this slowly to make it last.

* * *

The fact that Jack's soul was still among them brought Kokab both great pleasure and great pain. No doubt Jack was filled with agony, but if his soul wasn't completely devoured by the fearling, if a part of him was still left, maybe he could be saved.

They needed to destroy the fearling. When it was destroyed, all that would be left would be Jack. Kokab should be able to heal him from whatever shape he would be in then.

As he watched, Jack pushed himself to his feet. He was unsteady, even leaning against his staff, and Kokab knew that he wouldn't last long in a fight. If Pitchiner truly wished to shelter the fearling until it was at full strength, the Nightmare King would have to retreat soon.

It was a pity Sanderson couldn't fight both the old general and Jack, he was the only one with a weapon that could kill the fearling. They'd have to get Sanderson to attack Jack again, but prevent Pitchiner from stepping in. Someone else would have to get involved, two-on-two, and if Pitchiner took that as breaking the rules then nightmares circling them would most likely attack too. They had to attack the general and shortly there after had to deliver the killing blow to the fearling.

They needed a distraction for Pitch _and_ Jack.

Jack hadn't joined the battle. He was instead shuffling backwards towards the edge of the circle opposite of where the Guardians were standing and Kokab found he couldn't look anyplace else. His friend's body was obviously injured and Kokab could only wince in sympathy. But he had the inkling of a plan. Eventually, Kokab would give Jack all the help he could.

* * *

Tooth could still feel the adrenaline running through her veins. She had been knocked around a bit, but she was by no means finished with this fight. Unfortunately, the nightmares around them had no inclination to let her fly to Sandy's aid judging by the occasional yank on her tail feathers. She wanted to do something! She wanted to fight!

Unable to do that she thought. Jack had a soul. Jack's body had a soul. A soul that contained magic, a personality, memories? As if on cue she felt warmth against her thigh through the bag on her hip and she already knew what it was before her fairy's chirps sounded through the leather.

The toothbox. The one Jack/Manny had been carrying around. The one that had lit up so brightly only to die so suddenly. The one with a child's face on the side which, now that she considered it, looked a bit like Jack's. So that meant it was Jack's toothbox.

 _Oh. Did that mean - when the light stopped glowing - that had been when? - if she had activated the memories then - would Jack be like this now?_

She stuck her hand into the pouch to feel the golden canister but didn't pull it out. No use letting the nightmares and Pitch know about it.

"Guys," she hissed.

Bunny's ear swirled toward her and North shifted closer. Manny stayed where he was, frowning as he looked at Jack, but she wasn't sure how well the lead Guardian could help right now. He couldn't touch anything after all.

"What is it?" Bunny asked, eyes noting her hand in the pouch.

"I told you that toothbox I got before was important. I'm pretty sure it's Jack's."

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure. It's warm, a sign he need the memories now." They all looked to where the fearling host was standing. The fight with Sandy had really taken it's toll. His cat eyes were narrow slits, his cheat heaving, and if it wasn't for the nightmare next to him Tooth doubted he would be even standing.

He looked like he needed a lot of reminding of happier times.

"I can activate the memories, but it'll take me time. It won't be easy, not with the way he is now. I don't know how much a partial soul would be able to remember, or if I could even get the memories into his mind past the fearling in his body. But I'll do my best."

"See if you can select memories of his sister." Manny tore his gaze from Jack to look at her. "Those would resonate the most with him, are most essential to himself. At least, to the self he was before I turned him into a spirit. He also didn't remember those when he woke up, it would be quite a shock to him."

"Do we want to shock him?" Tooth asked.

Jack looked so frail right now. She worried a shock would kill him.

"Yes, it would give us an opening."

An opening. Tooth did not like the direction Bunny's thoughts seemed to be going.

"We are not hurting Jack any more then he is already!"

"Tooth, look at him. He's already in pain. Jack's had his soul ripped, I can't image that to be pleasant. The least we can do is put him out of his misery."

"We can _help_ him-"

"How? In all the years the Golden Empire fought the creatures of darkness, no one had been able to bring back a person devoured by a fearling. They eat the souls, Tooth. There's been nothing left to save. Jack might have a little part left, but he's not whole. Not anymore."

"You didn't hear him," Kokab added. "The way he screamed when Pitchiner forced the fearling into his mouth. Dying would have been a mercy after all that pain, but now Jack's living with the echos of that and will never be free of it. The fearling will keep him trapped there in his own body and Jack will never find peace unless we kill him."

"They are right, Toothy." North came up to put a hand on her shoulder. "We can do no more for him."

"I don't like this," Tooth sobbed, tears running down her face. She brought one hand up to brush them away, keeping the other on the tooth capsule. "But I have a sneaking feeling you're right."

"We are," Manny said, and oh if he didn't sound old and tired. Had he made choices like this before? Seen things more tragic than this? Suddenly, Tooth was very glad he led the Guardians and watched from above instead of her.

"I'll get Sandy's attention," Bunny said. "I'll tell him that on our cue to attack Jack. Tooth, you start working on activating those memories. North, cover her."

"Bah, like you have to say that. Of course I do."

Tooth gave North a watery smile and then closed her eyes to concentrate. She focused on her fingers, the pads pressed against the metal of the toothbox. The little fairy in her pouch was next to her pinkie, both hands on the metal and giving Tooth all the help she could give.

Normally, a quick touch would activate the memories and Tooth could feel them flowing into the mind of the child. But with Jack, the memories left and were halted on their journey just like the wall of fear had stopped her not an hour ago. The memories built up and up, flooding and oozing to the side looking for a way around the wall but there was no path. They were active, they had to go somewhere, and Tooth found herself the receiver.

She winced as the memories entered her mind. This always smarted a little. Both the memories and her body knew they didn't belong to one another and so there was always discomfort. But better then a blasting migraine that could leave one with a muddy brain for life if someone else tried.

Taking Manny's advice Tooth shifted for the memories that involved Jack's sister. The first one could only have been Jack's death and Tooth quickly pushed that one away. He didn't need to be reminded of that so close to a second one. She wanted to give him happy memories.

Tooth found two. One of a night telling stories to a bunch of kids near the fire in the center square, adults around the edge smiling and listening while pretending not to. The other of a warm fall day, climbing trees and picking wild apples while he tossed them to his sister who caught them in her basket.

And then came the hard part. She used her own bit of magic to push at the fearling's block of Jack's mind. It was hard work, painful, and somewhere outside of her mind she felt North grip her elbow. The fearling was stronger than anything she had to push a memory at before and Tooth found herself glad it wasn't at full strength because she wasn't sure she would have been able to make as much headway as she was.

She brought up memories of her true strength, her determination to protect the children and to never let the important memories fade away. She grabbed onto Jack's memories, solidified her center, and _pushed_.

The barrier in her head disappeared, shattering into thousands of pieces. Tooth sagged against North for just a moment, just long enough to see Sandy launch himself at Jack while Jack himself crashed to the ground with pain, before the nightmares surrounding them attacked. North pushed her away, a little bit up, and she took to the air immediately.

Jack had a dreamsand sword in his throat and a golden St. Bernard sitting on his chest to stop the boy from jerking. Sandy was slashing his whips at the nightmares circling him and Jack. Manny was running, phasing through nightmares as he made his way to the fallen winter spirit. North was all dazzling metal as he charged at the nightmares around him. Bunny was low and crouched, boomerangs in his extended arms as he stood his ground against Pitch.

Pitch himself was wearing a look fiercer than anything Tooth had ever seen. It was rage, it was disbelief, it was a sadistic need to rip into flesh, and worse of all it was desperate. North and Sandy could take care of themselves. She dove down to help Bunny.

* * *

Nightmares, Nicolas thought, weren't the most terrifying thing he had ever fought. But they were tricky, easily slipping out of the way. When he slashed at one with his sabers, Nicolas could never tell if it had deformed naturally to reappear behind him or had been destroyed. Even an easy opponent could wear a Guardian down if there were many of them, and there were many nightmares.

There was a yelp of pain - Bunny - and North looked over his shoulder to see the Pooka hit a cave wall. Pitch stalked towards Sandy and Jack, only to be deterred by a spinning Tooth rocketing into his side. His friends would be okay. Pitch might be desperate, but desperation could only get one so far. The Boogeyman would fight strongly, but stupidly, and since Pitch was already weak Nicolas did not believe the fight would be short for all it's fierceness.

Nicolas tumbled forward, forcing his swords into to mares on either side of him and made his way towards Sandy. The shooting star was frowning at the black sand around them, slowly absorbing it. Nicolas's eyes went towards Jack. He was lying still on the ground, golden sword in his throat, and Manny was brushing the spirit's hair while whispering into Jack's ears.

As if feeling his gaze, Manny looked up and locked eyes with Nicolas. He was crying.

"Tell everyone to cover their eyes."

"Tooth, Bunny _, zakroyte glaza!"_ Nicolas was glad they knew at least basic commands in Russian and threw his hands over his eyes just as the space around him grew warm.

Even through his eyelids, Nicolas saw bright yellow. Pitch's scream was horrendous. Nicolas open his eyes again only after the light faded.

Manny was glowing, still giving off light of the kind that had drawn the Guardians to him earlier. The glow was fading, making the cave a golden dawn. The nightmares were gone and Pitch was on his knees, the heels of his hands pressed into his eyes. Even though Manny had the appearance of a round six year old child, Nicolas could feel the command and power radiate off of him.

This was Kokab Lunanoff. Man in the Moon. Leader of the Guardians. Ruler and Last of the Constellations.

"Pitch Black. You have been running free too long, abusing the body of my parent's general, and I will not stand for it to continue."

"I didn't realize I had angered you so much."

Manny glared. "You have always angered me, but I had hoped your time here on Earth, and with those here, would have changed you for the better. That you would have learned to tame and control yourself after being defeated."

Pitch laughed. "Control myself? Control fear? When it exists to run wild and revels in the chaos it creates?"

"Chaos that didn't always threaten the stars. It, you, changed, and I had hoped you would again. But I see now that I was wrong."

"Yes," Pitch hissed, slowly getting to his feet.

Nicolas glanced towards the other Guardians, Sandy beside him and Tooth and Bunny just behind Pitch. They wanted to fight, but were hesitant to step-in.

"Yes, you were wrong, child. Because something that has once been caged will always crave freedom and take revenge for the caging."

"In that case, I'm sorry for what I must do."

Nicolas knew Manny was powerful, but this much? Manny spoke the old tongue of the stars, words heavy to the point Nicolas was hard pressed to keep standing. He couldn't understand what the boy was saying, but Sandy obviously did, because the shooting star was lifting Jack's limp body and carrying it to Manny.

Manny placed a hand on Jack's forehead, there was a flash of vivid blue light, and Jack was standing strong before Pitch while Manny was no where in sight.

There was something small glinting in Jack's hand. He raised it and jabbed it into Pitch's chest. Pitch screamed, there was another flash of light, and when Nicolas could see again Pitch Black was lying still on the rock floor, Jack Frost standing above him, while the rest of the Guardians gaped with open mouths.

When Jack started falling, Nicolas, Tooth, and Bunny all raced forward. Sandy, being the closest, gently laid him on the floor.

* * *

Before he had been turned into a spirit, Aster had been familiar with magic. As in, felt it once or twice. And then he had developed a bit of talent for it himself almost a thousand years ago thanks to Manny. He thought he knew it.

He was wrong.

Manny, when he wanted to be, was downright scary. The blast of heat and light left him dizzy, the Verbal spell had him on one knee, and the result of seeing a comatose Pitch Black at the feet of a standing Jack Frost had Aster's heart beating with hope in a way it had never done before. But then Jack was falling and Aster wasted a precious second getting to him by going down on all fours before moving forward.

Sandy laid the spirit down gently and Tooth landed next to him, ankles under her thighs. "Jack?" she whispered but Jack just shook his head.

"Sorry, I-" he broke out into a coughing fit and North quickly lifted Jack's head to help him breathe better before setting Jack's head onto his lap. Except, the voice that came from Jack wasn't Jack's. At least, Aster didn't think so. He had never heard the actual Jack Frost speak, just the two-toned merger of Jack and Kokab, but the voice that had come out of Jack's mouth hadn't been the younger of those two.

"Jack's gone, isn't he?" Aster asked, settling onto his hind legs.

Kokab nodded. "I had to use his body, I could forge the weapon with magic but not wield it, and so merged us again but...it's not like it was before."

He tried to sit up, but another coughing fit hit him.

"Sorry, Jack's body isn't a hundred percent right now."

No. It wasn't. It had most likely taken an internal beating when the fearling took it, and then fighting with Sandy hadn't been a walk in the park either. The winter spirit looked battered and bruised, needing a week of bed rest. The gash in his neck was healed but covered in blood, dripping onto Jack's sweatshirt. It was a miracle Kokab could even talk.

Sandy signed a question mark. What now?

Kokab turned his head towards Pitch. "There's a prison that I built, on the dark side of the moon. It's similar to where the fearlings had been kept, not as strong, but" - he turned to smile at Sandy - "you defeated the last fearling. I had hoped Pitch would turn back to Pitchiner at that moment, but he hasn't. Maybe he will later, or maybe the time playing host to them has forever taken away my old general. I doubt anyone goes through that unchanged.

"This time, moonbots will guard it, and I will visit only occasionally. No need to repeat past mistakes."

"And Jack?" Tooth whispered.

Kobab closed his eyes and sighed. "His body is still here, so he must be as well in some part. But if it is, his soul is so tiny I can not feel it. I intended to speak a spell of merging, but the magic wouldn't let me and I had to speak one for possession. When I'm back on the Moon and slip into my own body, I will make sure Jack peacefully moves on."

Tooth's breath hitched and Aster envied her good heart. He felt sorrow and a little pity for Jack Frost, but didn't mourn him. They had never met, not truly, and Aster's grief was more for the lost opportunity than anything else. He didn't know Jack Frost and never would.

Kobab patted Tooth's knee and her eyes started watering.

"I saw his memories, while trying to get his body to accept them. He would have made a fantastic Guardian."

"Would have? Boy was," North insisted."He was one of us, and we will remember him. For giving Manny a chance to walk among us, for doing his best to protect the children, for having a hand in Pitch Black's defeat."

"He'd like that," Kokab said as he slowly pushed himself up. All the Guardians placed a hand somewhere as they helped him stand. "If I find a piece of him before he leaves, I'll tell him that."

"You do that," Aster said.

Sandy mimed something about flying and Kokab shook his head. "I might have just used a lot of magic, but I assure you Sanderson it left me no more drained than turning each of you into spirits. After all, I gave you each a bit of my soul for that. I won't need your ship to get to the Moon."

Kokab looked down at Pitch. "I wouldn't however say no to help getting both of us to the surface. That might be a bit much for this body."

North hurried to lift Pitch and Aster scurried forward to help lift from the other side. He got a close look at the weapon in Pitch's chest, a white crystal with a hint of blue. Something about it made him sad and Aster found himself thinking it had been made from tears. Whose, Aster didn't know.

Sandy patted the spot next to him on a cloud and Kokab gently climbed onto it with Tooth's help. Tooth led the way through the tunnels, her mini fairy at her side, and within a few minutes they were on the surface and blinking at a setting sun.

Kokab disembarked from Sandy's cloud and Aster helped gently drop Pitch around his shoulders. Kokab stooped under the weight, but held it.

"Manny, you will come back, yes? Tell us how things are?" North asked.

Kokab smiled at them with Jack's face. "I will. Look for me at the next full moon."

A moonbeam appeared behind Kokab and he stepped back into it, dragging Pitch with him. A second later, they were gone, teleporated away through the light.

"North, I could use a bit of your vodka if that's alright." Aster rubbed a paw over his face.

"Yah, you are all invited. After today, we all need a bit."

* * *

Sanderson had wondered how Lunanoff looked grown up; the last time the shooting star had seen the Tsar he had been just a boy. The man who stepped out of the moonbeam on the full moon only had hints of his child form - the blonde curly cowlick, a bit of roundness - but he looked strikingly like his father S'hay.

"Manny!" St. North boomed and strode forward to wrap the man in a hug. Sanderson waited until it was finished before speaking.

 _-My Tsar, it's good to see you well.-_ Sanderson bowed to Lunanoff but the star quickly chastised him.

"Please, Sanderson. There is no need for formalities. I have no people to rule now."

- _I'm still here.-_

"So you are, but I'd much rather have a friend then a subject."

- _As you wish.-_

Toothiana pushed forwards and gave Lunanoff a hug. He smiled gently at her, no doubt already expecting her question, but before she could ask turned to Bunnymund to great the pooka.

"Come, come, we wish to show you something." St. North hooked his arm through Lunanoff's and lead the way into the Pole, the Tsar smiling as he went along.

Sanderson bobbled along behind, stopping to pat Toothiana's shoulder. She had formed a connection with Jack Frost like none of the other Guardians had; she was the only one who had a idea of who the spirit had been as an individual. In fact, Toothiana was the only spirit on Earth who could say that and it had turned her a bit protective over Jack, even posthumously. She was obviously anxious to hear if Lunanoff had found a bit of his soul to communicate to before it passed on.

St. North led them towards the Globe Room and Lunanoff halted when he noticed a painting on one of the walls. It was a mural of Jack Frost's life, from interacting with his sister to stabbing Pitch in the gut with a star crystal formed of tears. Toothiana had dictated the memories to Bunnymund, who had sketched the mural and painted it with St. North's help. Sanderson had mainly helped by offering extra hands and floating shelves, but also contributed bits of dreamsand that Bunnymund had mixed with pale blue paint to mimic Jack's frost.

"It's beautiful," Lunanoff whispered, stepping forward and reaching a hand up to touch one of Jack's feet.

"He was never officially made Guardian, so could not add him to floor. But this, this we could do."

"He'd love it."

"Did you, did you find him? At the end? Did you tell him we'll remember him?" Toothiana wrung her hands.

Lunanoff radiated on the x-ray spectrum, and by the way Bunnymund suddenly stiffened something in the man's scent also gave away the fact he was about to lie.

"I did. His sense of self was so faint, I wasn't sure he'd hear me, but before it faded away I felt a tiny bit of joy. Jack knows." Lunanoff spoke staring at Jack's face above him, a scene from when he had joined the Guardians in collecting teeth. An image as much as Jack Frost as Kokab Lunanoff.

"Oh, I'm so glad." Toothiana clasped her hands to her chest and closed her eyes in relief. St. North patted her shoulder.

"And Pitch?" Bunnymund asked.

"Like I said, imprisoned and guarded by moonbots." Lunanoff turned around to face them. "He has no fearlings that can sneak under their armor, Pitch is nothing but a dangerous star at the moment. I did check on him before coming, he still sleeps. He probably will for many years."

Bunnymund nodded.

- _Come, no more sad things. You completely missed what else is new.-_ Sanderson purposely floated over the Guardian's symbol on the floor. He formed a sand arrow and pointed it down.

Lunanoff walked over and looked at the logo.

St. North had been able to change this as Lunanoff was a sworn Guardian. Since none of them knew how their leader looked, the Cossack had instead whittled the the surface of the moon behind the center G. Faint craters dotted the wood, and when seen from afar it looked like a face smiling behind the letter.

"It's wonderful."

"We may not see you very often, but you are Guardian too Manny. We remember Jack and we remember you. It is only right."

Lunanoff turned around and threw his arms over St. North. "Thank you."

It struck Sanderson suddenly that Lunanoff was quite young for a star and it no doubt was lonely up on the Moon. He had not given thought before as to _why_ Lunanoff had merged with Jack, what made him go to such extremes. Sanderson suspected loneliness played a great part in it.

"It is good to see you in person, old friend," St. North said as he came to stand beside Lunanoff. "Three hundred years of silence is too long. Come like this, walk amongst friends."

 _-Yes. Come. You are my Tsar, it did not feel right to ask you to interact with us. But you are also a Guardian, the first Guardian. St. North calls you friend. I'd like to learn to do the same.-_

Lunanoff smiled at him, no doubt understanding that though Sanderson may be a spirit now, years ago he had been a shooting star and getting past the formal boundaries of that culture would take centuries.

Toothiana and Bunnymund crowded close and Sanderson saw where Lunanoff had given him the hints of ghost children and long lost people when he had been merged with Jack Frost. Once, long ago, Sanderson had left Lunanoff alone and the result had been a dead Nightlight, a missing royal family, and a crash to Earth followed by a long sleep as he was transformed. Twice now Lunanoff had saved him, by sharing his soul and then disrupting Pitch Black's spell. Looking at Lunanoff now, it seemed like he needed saving too and it had already started to mend in the presence of the newer Guardians.

They had lost Jack Frost before they ever know him, drowned in the high tide of fear. They had never had Kokab Lunanoff though they had known him for centuries, standing on the dark side of the moon and looking at his ancestors.

Sanderson vowed to put things right and floated closer to his friends to join in their mirth.

The End.

 **A/N:** Done! If you guys are curious as to what's next for me, head over to Ao3 where I'm actively working on the next story in the Company of Others series. Or you can hang around here and wait for when I publish it on when it's finished.


End file.
